Of Mortals and Monsters
by norner
Summary: Hild has never given up on winning her daughter back for the Demon Realm. Her latest plot takes a terrifying turn, challenging the love of Belldandy and Keiichi. Urd's soul hangs in the balance.
1. Chapter 1

Errata: This isn't a rework of my earlier story, _per se_, but it is a related work. I wanted to keep what worked and remove what didn't, and this is the result. Hopefully this is an improvement.

**Of Mortals and Monsters**

Mara was angry. It was certainly an emotion which had plagued her for most of her time on Earth. Humans annoyed her to no end, and the entire realm just felt dirty. Of all the creatures in the various realms of existence, mankind was the most similar to the Gods and the Demons. According to Hild, they might someday ascend to a level of existence quite similar to the divine beings. Mara winced at the thought of humans running around with cosmic powers. That was enough to scare even a First-class Demon.

And that explained her annoyance. Humans could be as sanctimonious and self-righteous as any God, and five minutes later stab someone in the back as efficiently as a Demon. They were unpredictable, prone to rash decisions, and meddling with powers they couldn't even comprehend. But worst of all, they were so incredibly _stupid._

Her current mission certainly spoke to that. Now that things had gone back to normal in the Underworld, she was back the same task that dogged her since she had been unsealed. After they had passed their love test, Keiichi and Belldandy were back to their usual wondrous happiness. And it made Mara sick. If she was going to repair her reputation in Hell, this never-ending stream of joy had to be cutoff at the source.

Contrary to popular belief, Demons did understand happiness, and they could even feed off it when it was generated by their own actions, and not those of Heaven. But, whatever else they might be, Demons were cynics. They were realists. Happiness of the type Belldandy and Keiichi shared could only be delusional, no matter what some fancy test from Heaven said. And hadn't the test been administered by Belldandy's mother? How fair and equitable could it have really been?

So Mara stepped into the portal, and moments later found herself back on the streets of Nekomi. It was the last place on Earth she really wanted to be, but things had to be done. A fraction of Hild's power remained in this realm, sealed within the body of a child, and it was in that form that the Daimakaicho chose to greet her.

"Mara!" Hild smiled. "I'm glad you're back!"

"Hild-sama." Mara began. "It wasn't like you gave me a choice. Eternity as a piece of furniture in your throne room, or come back here."

"Oh, it's not like that at all." Hild said. The look of demonic wisdom on the face of child somehow unnerved Mara. What's worse, Hild _knew_ that and enjoyed Mara's discomfort. It was one of the Daimakaicho's favorite things to do, unnerving subordinates. "I just like to keep you on your toes."

Mara knew a lie when she heard one, but Hild was the Daimakaicho and Mara was not. That was the order of the universe. And, whatever else Mara might have been inclined to do, she had never betrayed Hild, not even after the usurpation. Granted, it was more out of fear than deep-seated loyalty. _No_, she thought, _that's not true. I really am loyal to her._ Despite her sadistic ways, Hild had a way of inspiring loyalty and love, and she knew how to turn those into weapons. There was no shame in being played by a master.

"Hadn't you given up on those two?" Mara asked.

"Well, I'd still like to split them apart. That's hardly a secret." Hild put her finger to her tiny lips. "But that's not why I called you back here."

Mara didn't say anything. Hild would theatrically play this out, she always did have an affinity for the dramatic. It was another one of those subtle ways that she messed with people's minds. Hild was a master of manipulation, and that was actually a far more potent weapon than many of her powers were.

"We're getting Urd back, Mara."

"Why the sudden change? I thought we were leaving her alone." Mara said.

"Seeing Anzasu brought it all back. I really hate that woman. We demons are at least honest about our dishonesty." Hild said. "They hide behind their self-righteousness, but underneath it, they are the same as us. Just without the stones to admit it."

"You still love him, don't you?" Mara thought out loud. Then, she realized her mistake. It was common knowledge that Hild and Kami had been an item in the past. But most demons dismissed this as Hild playing Kami to the advantage of the demon realm. Very few knew the truth. Hild had loved that man, and probably still did.

"Watch your tongue." Violet eyes narrowed and tension filled the air. "Urd thinks she's doing good, playing for the team with justice and light on their side. There is no justice to be found in Heaven. We just need to show her."

"Agreed." Mara nodded. "But what can we do about it?"

"Funny you should ask." Hild smiled, and Mara knew she should have kept her mouth shut. "_You_ are going to infiltrate the temple. And I am going to provide Urd a temptation even she can't resist."

"Isn't this against your contract with Him?" Mara wondered. "I mean, he said that you had to give Urd to Him if..."

"The contract said I had to give Urd up if she used Goddess magic first. It didn't say anything about not trying to win her back." Hild stuck out her tongue and stuck her hands on her hips. "And I don't really care what He thinks anyway."

"Yes, Hild-sama." Mara bowed her head. "I don't know how I'm going to infiltrate the temple, though. I've never been able to do much before."

"Oh, that's easy!" The child smiled up at Mara, and once again, chills traveled down her spin. _She's just loving this, _she thought, _isn't she?_

"Somehow, I have a feeling I'm not going to like it..." Mara mused.

"You're going to knock on the front door." Hild said.

"Okay, now I know I've lost it. Did you say I'm going to knock on the front door?" Mara asked, incredulous.

"Yep!" The child was grinning from ear to ear. "Let's continue this conversation over at the bar." With a flick of her wrist, they appeared a few streets down in front of a small dive bar.

"You're too young... they won't let you in." Mara pointed out.

"Drat! I could use a drink..." Hild's disappointment was evident on that child-like face. "Well go get me a bottle of sake then."

It was at times like this that Mara really hated her job. A First-class demon was stuck fetching liquor for a child-avatar of the Daimakaicho. It was demeaning and insulting, and that was probably why Hild had ordered her to do it.

But, Mara obeyed, walking into the corner store next to the bar, grabbing a bottle of sake and walking out the door with it.

"Hey! You didn't pay for that!" The irate store owner screamed at her.

"Don't talk to me, mortal. I will rend your soul in two, I will curse your children and plague your nightmares for all time." Her sigil glowed bright red on her forehead and shadowy energy cascaded around her as pent-up anger threatened to be released.

"Uh... forget it." The shopkeeper managed, staggering back into the store fearfully.

"Tsk tsk, Mara. You really need to learn to control that temper!" Hild smiled and her tiny little hands reached for the sake. "Sake!" She took a long pull from the bottle. Some of the liquid leaked around the edges and she wiped it off her chin theatrically. She then leaned up on her tip-toes, and kissed Mara's cheek.

"Thanks, Mara! You always spoil me!" Hild's little arms were around Mara's waist in a tight hug, and whatever anger Mara had for the Daimakaicho suddenly vanished with an upwelling of maternal instinct. Knowing that Hild was manipulating her feelings, and being able to do anything about it, were two entirely different things, Mara realized.

Before the frightened shopkeeper could call the authorities, Hild snapped her fingers, and they were just down the street from the temple.

"So, here we are!" Hild said. "Now, here's what you are going to do. You're going to march right up those steps, knock on the door, and apologize for everything you've ever done to them."

"I'm going to _what?"_

"Yes. Oh, they won't believe you, especially my daughter." Hild smiled wistfully at the thought of Urd. "They will test you. But you tell them that I'm grateful for their help, and that I'm sending you as a servant for them, to make up for all the past wrongs. Also tell them that if you fail at your mission, I am going to turn you into a nice new couch for my throne room's antechamber."

"Are you really going to do that?" Mara asked, not really expecting an answer.

"Well, I don't know." The child rubbed her chin as if in deep thought. "But do this, and you don't have to worry about it, right?"

"What do I do once I'm in?" Mara wondered.

"Be good. Don't do anything bad, manipulative or anything else like that. I'll contact you when the time comes, with further instructions." The child took another pull from the sake bottle before letting out a petite, feminine belch. "Excuse me!"

Mara looked down the street for a moment, pondering how she would even get past the robot guard Skuld had constructed, or even get close enough to talk to the Goddesses and their mortal plaything without getting sealed first. This was definitely not as easy as Hild made it out to be.

She turned to ask the child avatar another question, but Hild was gone, leaving only the empty sake bottle on the sidewalk. Mara frowned, she knew she was about to walk into a world of hurt. Steeling herself for the task at hand, she began to walk toward the temple.

* * *

Things had quieted down in the temple since their return from the underworld, and for that Keiichi was most grateful. Life with three Goddesses around was definitely interesting and exciting, but he could do without threats to the existence of the universe, or life-and-death struggles in the underworld. Yet if that was the price of his relationship with Belldandy, he would pay it tenfold.

Belldandy...

There was turmoil in his mind now, at the revelation that his feelings had been manipulated by Heaven for so long. But it made sense on the face of it. Relationships between Gods, Demons and Men had been forbidden except in cases of extremely powerful love. The System Force wanted to keep Belldandy and himself together, and it _knew_ about the rule. And thus, his desires had been repressed to keep the relationship stuck just below the threshold that would have required The Test.

That was in the past now, though.

Yet even so, he had trouble taking that last step in their relationship. If only because things had been a certain way for so _long_ that it was difficult to get out of that lock-step.

The phone rang, interrupting his thoughts.

"Keiichi Morisato." He said.

"Ah, good. Coming right over." A deep, masculine voice said. There was a time when Keiichi might have wondered about that, but after living with Goddesses for so long, he just turned around and watched as an unfamiliar God appeared in the room. He was incredibly tall, dressed in an expensive business suit, with a small "K" embroidered on the breast pocket. His eyes were a bright blue, and his hair was a shimmering silver that flowed around him.

A soft light seemed to emanate from him, and his markings were hauntingly familiar somehow. They reminded him of the changed markings Belldandy had worn when her powers were unsealed. A 4-pointed star was on his forehead, and it glowed a bright blue-white.

"Keiichi." The God said, extending his hand in greeting. Keiichi took it, unsure what to do. "I am Kami. Or, at least this is a part of me."

"K..K... KAMI?!" Keiichi fell to his knees suddenly. What else was one supposed to do when confronted with the creator of the universe?

"Oh, stop that. Do you really think me so arrogant as to create mankind just so I could see them bowing to me?" Kami's voice was stern, but kindly. It had an undeniable _presence_ to it, too.

"Sir I..." Keiichi managed to come to his feet. "About the wish and all I should probably explain that..."

"There is nothing to explain, son. You made a true wish. You didn't know it at the time, of course, but Belldandy was who your heart desired. I would not have allowed it if I did not suspect the same about her. My daughter is happy, and as long as she continues to be happy, then you have nothing to fear from me." Kami's voice was level, but there was a hint of warning in it too.

Keiichi understood _that_ unspoken warning. If he did something to make Belldandy unhappy, things would not go so well for him, that was certain. Somehow, though, he worked up the nerve to ask the question that had burned on his mind.

"Yes, about that." Kami replied to Keiichi's unvoiced thought. "Your desires were sealed because of a problem I still haven't solved. It is possible for Gods, Demons and Humans to love one another. Believe me, I know from personal experience. But it isn't always wise for them to."

"Sir?"

"It's been a long time since I've been down here." Kami mused. "The last time I was here, Julius Caesar was causing that ruckus in Egypt. There's a lot of potential in Mankind, you know. You don't give yourselves enough credit. Especially you, Keiichi." The God adjusted his tie slightly, and brushed his suit.

"I don't understand." Keiichi admitted, fidgeting nervously. _I am in the presence of the Almighty One!_

"I've never really cared for that name. Almighty One sounds remarkably self-serving, wouldn't you say?" Kami explained. "Anyway, I came down here to give you the explanation in person. For my daughter, I could do no less. I would not have this be an issue in your relationship."

Keiichi nodded simply in reply, still somewhat awed by Kami's presence.

"You see, we found that love between the realms can create... shall we say... a conflict of interest. It becomes difficult to tell if it is love, or politics, or some combination of the two, that motivates the relationship. A human might want to be immortal, for example, which we generally don't allow. And we'll get to more on that later. Or a demon may want ways in which to manipulate Heaven. What makes it worse is that, even with those things, the two can still truly love each other on top of it. So the Judgement Gate was created, to ensure that the love is strong, and there aren't more sinister motivations behind it." Kami explained. "So your desire was locked, that you might remain together and forge that relationship, which you might otherwise have been prevented from having."

"Did everyone know about it the whole time?" Keiichi asked. He wasn't trying to be rude, but he couldn't help but be disturbed by another being forcibly toying with his mind.

"No. Belldandy knew, but the Judgement Gate is a secret, Keiichi. Otherwise, there would be those who tried to circumvent it. Your mind was touched as little as possible, in fact you have a natural shyness around women that made it absurdly easy to do this, without otherwise affecting you." Kami smiled amicably for a moment, before his expressionless look came back to him.

"I love Belldandy." Keiichi said, firmly. "I've never had any other motivation except for wanting to be with her. I'd stay with her any way I could. The only thing I question, sometimes, is whether a human like me can really be worthy of a Goddess like your daughter, sir."

"I'll give you a little secret. The Gods envy humanity. Eternity is a very lonely place, son. You see how much fun Urd and Skuld have down here, right? For them, this place is new and exciting." The divine being pointed out.

"Anyway, this isn't the only reason I came down here." Kami looked at his watch, an arcane device with a multitude of dials and displays written in the divine language. Keiichi was mesmerized by the sight of it, the watch was so small, and yet it seemed as if it were a vision into eternity. Impossible amounts of data floated around its face, gears turning and clock-hands shifting. A sudden chime sounded. "Ah, just in time. Hello, daughters."

Belldandy nearly dropped the grocery bags she was holding, and fell to her knees without a word. Urd simply stood, her expression frozen in a state of shock. And for a moment, Keiichi wondered if this informality Kami seemed to be extending to him might have been some kind of test. But it was Skuld who broke the image of Kami as the great Almighty One forever.

Skuld ran to her father, arms outstretched, completely disregarding her dislike of being seen as a little girl.

"Daddy!" A wide grin appeared on her face, and joyful tears threatened to well up with her eyes. No sooner had he taken one step toward her did her arms wrap around his waist in a tight hug. "I've missed you so much!"

His arms wrapped around his daughter, and his form glowed brightly with energy. Keiichi could barely make out his features anymore. After a long moment, Skuld reluctantly broke the hug, a confused look on her face.

"You left me here all alone with HER! And you didn't even visit." Skuld pointed to Urd, who still remained mute. Her expression shifted to one of anger.

"You know my schedule." Kami explained, retreating from Skuld's burning gaze. "And you have Bell to look out for you..."

"I _had_ her, until Keiichi came." She huffed, but it was a reluctant protest. Skuld had mostly made her peace with the relationship between Keiichi and Belldandy.

"That's not a nice thing to say, Skuld." Kami's stern expression returned.

"I know." Skuld admitted. "I'm sorry. I just haven't seen you for so long!"

"Belldandy, rise. No need to be so formal here." Kami extended his hand, and Belldandy got to her feet, smiling lovingly at her father. Keiichi noted how differently each sister reacted to the presence of their father. Did they even see the same man?

Urd finally overcame her silence, curiosity worming its way across her bronzed features. "Why did you come down, father?"

Another chime sounded from the wristwatch, and the glowing sigils within shifted into another pattern. "A few reasons. I was explaining to Keiichi about the Judgement Gate which, I remind all of you is _highly confidential!_ And I have a wedding present to deliver, as well."

"Wedding..?" Keiichi wondered out loud.

"Well, things work a little differently in Heaven, son. You went through that gate with my daughter, and that is no small thing. As far as Heaven is concerned, you're married. Now, if you want to do some kind of Earth ceremony here, that is between the two of you." Kami smiled at this, before catching himself again.

"Oneesama..." Skuld whispered.

"Yes, Skuld, that means you need to be nice to Keiichi. I'll be watching." Kami waved a finger at his daughter, and she glowered for a moment.

An egg floated down from the ceiling, appearing out of thin air at Kami's whim. "This is my wedding gift to the both of you. Open your hand, son." Kami instructed, and the egg floated into Keiichi's waiting hands.

"Father... thank you so much!" Belldandy whispered in amazement, before a smile overtook her. Keiichi knew he was missing something important. Tears of happiness began to form, and she threw her arms around her father in a manner not entirely different from what Skuld had just done. For a moment, Belldandy was a child again, brimming with happiness.

"Do you know what that is, son?" Kami asked. Keiichi nodded, he had seen an Angel's egg before, but had no idea what he was supposed to do with one.

The watch chimed again, and the sigils shifted into a new pattern. They began to blink ominously.

"Well, it is time to go. Keiichi, we'll meet again in a few hundred years." The divine being flashed and vanished into the air, residual energy cascading around all of them.

"Bell? What does this mean?" Keiichi turned to her and was nearly overcome by the force of Belldandy's embrace. She had never been so forward, but he went with it, wrapping his arms protectively around her, feeling the warmth of her skin against his own.

"Idiot." Urd said, but she was smiling despite her words. "He gave you an angel and said he'd see you in a few hundred years. Figure it out."

"Oh." He said rather dryly, for the weight of the gift he had just been given. "I didn't even get to say thanks..."

"Yes," Belldandy agreed. "Father just gave us an eternity together." She smiled happily, and for a moment Keiichi was overcome with gratitude and love. But darker thoughts soon intruded. Immortality had a steep price, he knew.


	2. Chapter 2

He held the egg in his hands, seemingly in a dream. Keiichi didn't know which frightened him more, the prospect of immortality, or the thought that if he ever made Belldandy unhappy, the divine favor he seemed to enjoy would turn into something far more sinister. On the surface of it, Kami seemed to be a gentle deity, but there was a hardness under that surface. Keiichi didn't even want to think on what might have made the Almighty himself into such.

"Keiichi-san..." Belldandy whispered. "This doesn't make you happy?"

"It isn't that, Bell. It's just that... if I accept this gift... someday I'll watch my friends die. My family... And why do I get this gift and they don't? It's not fair, I'm just a guy who made a weird wish." Keiichi explained, but he held on to the egg anyway.

Skuld had already skulked off to her room, angry that Keiichi would be with her sister _forever. _Or, perhaps, she was just jealous that Keiichi got an angel so quickly. Either way, he knew better than to bother her.

"It takes a lot to support an angel, Keiichi-san." Belldandy explained, wrapping her fingers around his hand, and closing them tightly around the egg. "A purity of spirit, a goddess's love. Even if He wanted to, only a man like you could even support that angel." Yet, there was a sadness in her voice, too. She knew what worried him.

"What happens when a mortal dies?" Keiichi asked. It was a question he had deliberately avoided since his wish. It seemed terribly self-serving, somehow. Or maybe he was just afraid of the answer.

"The spirit lives on." Belldandy closed her eyes for a moment. "Sometimes the soul finds its way to a new body. Sometimes it wanders awhile. But the memories are lost."

"Would you find me, then, if I died?" Keiichi said. Belldandy's eyes opened again, and the look there said everything he would ever need to know on the subject.

"I would never stop searching." She said. "But... just this once, Keiichi..." Her tone had a strange sort of desperation in it, and he knew how much this meant to her. For her, he would bear the burden, and the gift.

"What do I do?" He asked, looking at the angel egg with a puzzled expression.

"You swallow it." Belldandy answered quickly, smiling again.

"Okay.. here goes..." He muttered. It definitely felt strange swallowing an angel's egg to gain some kind of strange immortality. But then, nothing in his life had been simple or easy since Belldandy had come into his life. He popped the egg into his mouth and swallowed...

...The explosions from outside nearly caused him to vomit it back up, and he fell to the ground choking for a moment. The egg came back up a little, and the gagging stopped. Somehow he got control of himself again, and the egg finally went down.

"What is going on?" Keiichi coughed.

"Ugghhhh." A familiar voice managed, and the door slid open to reveal a smoking, charred Mara on the doorstep.

"Mara!" Keiichi yelled, and almost immediately, Urd was hovering beside him, and Belldandy's eyes were focused on the intruder. Banpei was behind the demon, loud rock music blaring, but Mara was simply too exhausted to dance.

"Help... me..." She managed, before passing out.

Banpei went in for the kill.

"No, Banpei!" Skuld yelled, clutching her hammer. It was the only thing that saved the demon's life.

"Heh. Should have let her finish." Urd frowned, but despite her words, she tended to the wounded demon, ensuring her injuries weren't life-threatening. "She almost got herself blown up. What an idiot."

"What should we do with her?" Keiichi wondered, looking at Belldandy. But even as he asked the question, he knew the answer. Belldandy had a concern for all living creatures, even ones as twisted as demons...

* * *

Child-Hild was bored. Maybe it came from her child-like form, or perhaps that was just Earth in general. So she tinkered with the stoplight wiring, hidden from prying eyes behind the control box.

In some ways she was separate from her full-self, but in other ways, she could commune, hear those thoughts. Unlike her daughter Urd, this sort of thing wasn't something she did regularly. Even 1/1000th of her power was too much to part with for all but the most urgent of reasons.

Still, she knew, this reason _was_ urgent. She needed a child to to woo her daughter back, to bring her back into the demonic fold. Urd would not be able to resist family, Hild knew that just from her reactions during the usurpation. It had warmed her heart to hear the word mother again, but she wanted much more. Urd should have been with the demons, she had all the mischievous talent of her mother, and none of the self-righteous arrogance of her father.

Or, at least, she liked to think so. It was difficult to tell sometimes.

Either way, she was presented with a problem. She certainly couldn't bear another child from a God, that was out of the question. And allowing a demon to father the child was a terrible idea. Hild didn't want to create a rival for the throne. Her control of Hell had solidified, and she had loyal subordinates, but she had no desire to give them the temptation to become disloyal.

That left the mortal realm, much as it pained her to let some human sire the heir to the Daimakaicho's throne. She had nothing against the Humans, they were a power source for her, and they had their inventiveness. They were much more like demons, most of them, although the occasional Keiichi popped up here and there to annoy her. But they didn't enjoy the powers that came with a higher dimensional awareness, and human blood might weaken her child some.

Still, there was no choice in the matter. It had to be done. Now she just needed to find a suitor, and summon her full-self to complete the deed.

Child-Hild rewired the stoplight so drivers wouldn't know to stop, chuckling to herself as several cars crashed into each other. She hummed lightly to herself and continued on. There were ways to relieve the boredom after all.

As she walked near Nekomi Tech, Keiichi's school, she wondered if she might seduce someone he knew. It would be quite delicious to see the reaction on his face if one of his friends had sired a demon. But Otaki was already taken, and it would be difficult to pry him from his girl. That left Tamiya, and Mara had informed her about his fascination with Peorth.

Tamiya had graduated some time prior, but he still hung out around the old Auto Club, and sure enough, the grandstanding man showed up. Child-Hild smiled and called the summoning spell...

* * *

Mara's head ached. She woke up on a mattress, and wondered why the Goddesses had bothered to show her that kindness. Of course, she had known she was going to get hurt when she approached the temple. Three Goddesses, a strange mortal and a pair of robots meant that she was essentially walking into a fortress. But she was alive, and in the temple, and that was a start.

"What's your mission this time?" Urd asked, a sadistic smile on her face. _She looks so much like her mother when she does that,_ Mara winced. Some of the Daimakaicho's immense power was within Urd too, she knew.

Mara decided truth was her best weapon, for once. "Hild sent me to apologize to you. I'm supposed to serve you in any capacity needed."

"Okay, so tell me your _real_ plan." Urd shook her head. "Come on, you can't expect we'd actually believe that."

"You were going to hurt my sister." Skuld hovered near by, glaring angrily at the demon.

"No. Believe me, I didn't want to come here. She told me to anyway, said she'd turn me into furniture for her throne room if I didn't." Mara rubbed her temples, trying to banish the headache. She cursed the human-like form she had taken. With it, came sensations of immense pleasure... and immense pain.

"I don't detect any deception from Mara." Belldandy mused softly.

"Oh, you're not actually thinking of letting her STAY here, are you sis?" Annoyance seeped into Urd's voice. "After all she's done to us in the past? Come on, it's stupid!"

"I could build a super-demon-prison!" Skuld offered. "Lasers combined with a quantum field generator that could hold the higher dimensions to..." Her voice droned off, and everyone else had already stopped listening.

"Look, I'll make a contract, Urd." Mara offered. "Full blood contract and all. I was sent here to help you and told to behave myself. If I don't go back I will probably become a decoration in her antechamber." She sat up, and Belldandy offered her some water. _She is always so kind... what an idiot_, Mara thought. But she had a hard time not admiring Belldandy's attitude anyway. Mara cut into her palm and began to sing the contractual binding spell.

"Probably?" Urd arched her eyebrow.

"It's Hild. She said probably, you know how she is. I really don't want to find out, okay?" Mara said. "Please, just let me stay. I'll keep out of the way and do whatever you ask."

"You are not here to harm Keiichi?" Belldandy asked, probing the effectiveness of the contractual binding.

"She didn't say anything about harming Keiichi. Actually I don't think she even cares about him one way or another." Mara added.

"And you aren't to hurt my friends, either." Keiichi added, the demon nodded. "Or anyone else."

"Hey now, I'm a demon. Hild said to leave you guys alone, she didn't say to be nicey-nice to the entire planet." Mara complained.

"No deal unless you agree." Urd smiled and once again, Mara was reminded of the predatory look on her boss's face when she got this mission.

"Fine fine. I'll stay away from the other mortals. That's it though, if any come looking for trouble, I'll give it to them." She practically spat that out, but still, the binding magic accepted it, and the spell was completed.

"We have a contract, then, Mara." Urd stood up. "You know what happens if you breach it."

"I'm not an idiot." Mara said.

"That remains to be seen." Urd said as she sauntered out of the room. Soon the others were gone, too, and Mara was left alone with her thoughts. Just because they had decided to let her stay didn't mean they were going to provide her with company. It was going to be _very _boring, indeed.

* * *

The egg took a lot longer to hatch than Keiichi thought it would. With Skuld, it had been near-instantaneous. But, apparently the process took a lot longer on a human, even one who ostensibly had the love of three Goddesses.

Belldandy was there with him, and her voice kept him sane as the power grew within. Keiichi understood, now, why so few mortals could ever do this. Just as he had caught a glimpse of Belldandy's true form, in the battles in Hell, so did this angel transcend some boundary that humans just weren't meant to cross. Only his determination and Belldandy's love carried him through it.

It had been one thing to temporarily host an angel for Lind, it was quite another to actually support his own. At least they hadn't made him into a God, or anything like that. That would probably drive him mad. This angel was a higher-dimensional reflection of himself, and that scared the hell out of him.

_Don't be scared of me. _The voice came from within. _I am you._

_Easy for you to say._ But Keiichi had to laugh at the absurdity of it all.

_Yes, it is. A human with an angel. Well at least you'll have another set of hands to help next time your bike breaks down. _The angel offered.

_Sure. But promise me you won't go berserk. Belldandy seemed worried that I couldn't..._ Keiichi wondered.

_Couldn't control me? Not to worry! You'll like me, I know you will._ The angel's voice seemed to be smiling. _I'll prove myself!_

_Heh, it's me who should be proving myself._ Keiichi mused.

_Exactly! _The angel said triumphantly. _We're the same person!_

_That wasn't exactly what I meant... but good point. Urd calls me a spineless wimp all the time, how bad can you really be? _Keiichi laughed.

_Oh, we're not THAT bad. Urd is just mean sometimes. Maybe we should spike one of her potions..._ The angel offered.

_You're supposed to be the voice of good! _But he was feeling better about this already.

_That's a myth. Angels are an internal voice, a reflection of yourself._ The angel said. _So you were the one thinking it, I just brought into your conscious mind! Like there's this desire rolling around in here about Belldandy, let's see, you want to kiss her and then take her into your bedroom to..._

_Knock it off! _Keiichi suddenly demanded, knowing exactly what the angel was about to say. He wasn't ready to confront that issue just yet.

_Sorry. _The angel apologized, and obeyed. That was a good sign, at least. _You still have to name me though!_

_You want to help me fix motorcycles, huh? _Keiichi knew it was lame, but at least he could be reasonably sure nobody else had named an angel something like this.

_Sure do! Can't wait! They seem so interesting in your mind._ The angel's voice was excited.

_Okay... MotorHead. _Keiichi named him, and with that, the angel finally broke out from his body, and floated in the air. Much like Noble Scarlet had been when she first came out, MotorHead was tiny, far under-sized for a typical angel. But Belldandy didn't seem to mind, and the angel floated over to her almost immediately.

"Pleased to meet you MotorHead!" She smiled. Keiichi didn't even bother to ask how she knew the angel's name already. The workings of his Goddess were beyond comprehension sometimes. The tiny being smiled back up at her, then planted a long kiss on her cheek. MotorHead winked at Keiichi, who turned nearly scarlet. Heaven might have unlocked his desire, but even with an angel... Keiichi still had no idea what to do next.

_I'll help!_ MotorHead offered.

_That's what I'm afraid of. _Keiichi thought.


	3. Chapter 3

"GET OUT!" Tamiya's voice was anything but subtle. "This is a sanctuary for _true _motorheads!"

"Yeah," Otaki added. "This is for Auto Club members only." The demon didn't bother pointing out that these two weren't even part of the _school_ anymore. She had tried to show interest in their strange hobby, but she had apparently referred to a Honda CBR 600RR as a Honda RC211V, and that was some kind of blasphemy. What Keiichi saw in these two bungling morons, Hild couldn't say.

She was about to protest, but decided it simply wasn't worth the effort. While she was shocked these two could resist her charms, and if she really wanted to she could bend them to her will through more direct means, she just didn't see the point. There were plenty of _willing_ men, she was sure. They were fools to send away the Daimakaicho, even if they didn't know it.

"What's the commotion out here?" Chihiro's hands were on her hips, outside the door to the Auto Club. "Who are you?" Her eyes came to rest on the scantily clad demon, sizing her up with an appraising look.

"Why... I am Urd's mother." Hild pronounced, striking a pose. "And these two, really, they were so _rude._ I just wanted to see who my daughter had been associating with."

"Urd's... mother?" Chihiro seemed shocked. "But I thought she was Belldandy's sister and you couldn't be _her_ mother..."

"Half-sister actually. But never mind that. I see I am not wanted here. Too bad." She said wistfully, running a finger along the top of her breast. "It could have been fun. Bye!"

As she turned her back on the stunned Auto Club members, she distinctly heard Chihiro's voice.

"Tamiya, you are an idiot!" Chihiro said. "That was your big chance!"

"But.. she isn't Peorth." Tamiya protested.

It was true, she didn't expect it to be that easy, but there was something to the loud mouthed man's obsession with Peorth. The Goddesses had been so busy spreading happiness around this town that shares in this city had gone from bad to worse for Hell. It was true that in the grand scheme of things, it wasn't so bad, but even so, Hild couldn't let this stand.

Behind her, the Auto Club members prepared to practice for their next race, and Hild decided to leave them with the taste of disappointment. Thunder obeyed her commands, and a great storm began to build overhead, torrents of rain appearing seemingly out of nowhere to soak the track. Moans of disappointment echoed behind her.

It wouldn't save her share of this town, but it was a start.

"Don't like rejection, do you?" Child-Hild smiled up at her full-size counterpart.

"I like talking to myself even less." Grown-Hild replied.

"Well, we could always try someone more worthy of us. Say, a President or a Prime Minister of some country. We could even start a delicious international scandal!" Child-Hild grinned from ear-to-ear. But the silence stretched between them for awhile, and the expression fell away.

"Too easy." They both agreed. Politicians, though powerful, were among the easiest humans to corrupt. There wasn't any fun in _that_ whatsoever.

"It _is _more fun to corrupt the innocent ones." Child-Hild reluctantly agreed. "What about Keiichi?"

"Do you really think we could pull that off? Come on. I don't think even mind control would work on him." Grown-Hild rolled her eyes. "If only that Tamiya wasn't so obsessed with Peorth."

"Well, what if we looked like Peorth?" Child-Hild smirked sadistically.

"It would never work. We both know that." Grown-Hild replied.

"Not long-term, but it could fool him for a night..." The child frowned. "I mean, we aren't looking to replace _Him_ are we?"

"Him. It always comes back to Him." The weather outside turned from a run of the mill thunderstorm to a roiling low pressure system of immense power. The seals strategically placed around her adult body began to glow ominously. "I hate Him."

"We love Him." The child admonished.

"Keiichi it is, then." Hild knew just how much twisting Belldandy's emotions would stick it to Him. Breaking her spirit would be a victory of immense magnitude. And Belldandy had only one weakness. Even so, she groaned at how difficult it would be to pull that off.

Child-Hild pondered this a few moments and gave herself an understanding look. It was difficult, because Hild really would prefer to corrupt Keiichi, to make him the father of her child. Not only would it completely shift the balance of contracts in this region, it would be a thumb in the eye of five separate Goddesses and Him all at the same time. That sort of opportunity didn't come every day. The child-form vanished to carry out more errands of mischief, leaving her alone again.

Most of all... Keiichi would make her happy. Not that she'd ever admit out loud, not even to herself. They said people were drawn to their opposites, and Hild knew that wasn't always true for everyone. But for her, it most definitely was. Keiichi was almost as pure of heart as He was, without even a drop of divine blood.

"Hey baby!" A voice called out. "You're getting all wet! Need a ride?" A BMW slowed down by her, window half-rolled down. She recognized the man vaguely.

"Who are you?"

"My name's Toshiyuki Aoshima. And I can't just let a pretty girl like you get soaked out here!"

The name was definitely familiar, Mara had mentioned him before in conjunction with one of her ill-fated plots.

"Do you know Keiichi Morisato?" Hild asked, hopeful. Perhaps she didn't need to work so hard to get at them after all.

"Sure do! We were classmates and all." Aoshima smiled, but Hild could already tell he wasn't exactly a pure soul. There was an aura about him that was definitely darker and more carnal. But, those weren't traits _she _took issue with.

"Sure," She smiled darkly, and her eyes narrowed. "I could use a ride..." She let her soaked dress part slightly in the middle, and the lewd look on the man's face spoke plainly in reply...

* * *

The menial labors of Belldandy did not amuse the demon. Mara couldn't understand why the Goddess obsessed with these useless gestures. Or why she didn't use her powers to do them far more efficiently. But it was even worse to be involved in them herself.

She was supposed to fly on a broom, not use it to sweep off a dusty old temple.

"Having fun?" The cat asked her.

"Shut up Velsper." Mara groused, sweeping a cloud of dust toward the banished demon. "At least I'm not stuck on Earth as a cat."

"No, you're just a servant. While I can come and go as I please." Impossibly, the cat managed to smile.

"Going to start a litter of kittens in that body, eh? Find yourself a nice dumb animal to cat around with?"

"Velsper CAT ATTACK!" The cat flung himself at Mara, a bundle of claws tearing at her face.

An explosion of force distracted them both, as Belldandy cast a barrier between them. Mara frowned in reply.

"He started it." She pointed.

"Grow up." Keiichi was behind Belldandy, looking unamused. "Just how old are you anyway?"

"None of your business."

Belldandy left them without a word, disapproval following her like a rocket through the door. Apparently it was possible for the demon to wear on Belldandy's near-limitless patience after all. A day of nothing but demonic immaturity was wearing on _everyone_ though.

"You actually managed to piss her off..." Keiichi sighed.

"What do you see in her anyway." The demon fell dejectedly on the floor, giving up on her chore.

Strangely, Keiichi decided to sit next to her. She wasn't sure whether she should be angry with him, or grateful for the company. "Ever wonder what it would be like living without worrying about betrayal, lies and backstabbing?"

"Sounds boring." Mara admitted.

"Then I guess I can't make you understand." The newly-minted immortal's angel made its appearance, hovering on his shoulder with a stern expression. The creature wagged his finger at her as if she were a naughty child.

"Demons don't do nice. I don't know what Hild was thinking, sending me here." Mara said. Distant thunder echoed.

"She's probably thinking up some kind of scheme." Keiichi smiled. "Oh come on, you know that, we know that."

"And Belldandy just lets me in here anyway? Stupid. You're in love with a moron, Keiichi. What does that make you?" A hint of sadistic pleasure crossed her face, but it didn't last. Keiichi, at least, managed to restrain himself.

But the other demon present failed utterly. And this time, Belldandy wasn't there to cast a barrier between them.

"Fucking cat." Mara yelled, running off and swatting the creature aside before he could do more damage to her bloodied face.

* * *

The door slammed with finality. But closing the door on the condo didn't hide the tortured sobs coming from within. To say that Aoshima turned out to be a disappointment was a cosmic understatement. Hild could appreciate a good plot, but something as amateurish as spiking her drink with a date-rape drug was worse than laughable. It was incompetent.

And if there was one thing in the world that pissed her off, it was incompetence. Still, the trip up to the condo wasn't a total loss. The net happiness in Nekomi had dropped a few points, misery had risen in turn. That was a minor victory of sorts. And as a bonus it was very unlikely Aoshima would be trying his game on anyone else any time soon.

Not if the tormented cries for his mother were any indication, anyway.

"Mama..." The last pained scream died away.

She smiled to herself, humming happily, and continued down the empty halls of the condo tower. Her child-form had been right, Earth did have its share of pleasures, sometimes.

"Mama..." A memory came unbidden. Hild tried to blink it away. She hated thinking about this...

But the memories flooded her awareness, entirely against her will, and took that satisfaction from her...

"Mama?" Urd looked up at her mother, her tiny little hand hanging on for dear life. "Where are we going?"

"You're going to see your father." Hild said, careful to control the turmoil in her mind. She knew this day would come, deep down, ever since Urd had been born. She was too kind for a demon, too caring. There were times when Hild herself felt as if she just wasn't cruel enough, uncaring enough, for the job she held. But someone had to hold it, lonely though it was, and anyone else she knew was far worse at it. It was all _His_ fault anyway.

It always came back to Him, in the end. Hadn't she earned the right to go to a better place? At first she had courted Kami as a means to an end, to crawl out of the depths of her exile. But as time went on, she came to love him, and hate him, at the same time. She hated how he made her feel, hated how she saw the same kindness in her daughter's eyes. But she loved them both, just the same.

"We're here." She said, and little Urd looked up with an expression of joy.

"I get to meet Daddy?" Urd's eyes were full of excitement. Hild forced a smile.

"I wasn't sure you'd come, in the end." A voice came from all around them, an undeniable air of authority and power. Hild remembered the other side to Him, though. The tender side that was, at the heart of it, just as lonely as she was. Their positions were parts to be played, they were actors in roles cast against their will. Her eyes began to moisten, but somehow she held her tears back. She was the Daimankaicho, and she had to set an example for her little Urd.

"I keep my contracts." Hild said, her voice beginning to tremble. She would lie, cheat, manipulate and destroy, but her one point of honor was that once her word was given, it would be upheld. She wasn't sure she could say the same about Him.

"So you do." Kami agreed. The voice coalesced into a physical form, though the fog mercifully obscured his features. Hild didn't know if she could handle actually _seeing_ Him again. She was close to breaking as it was. Her grip on Urd's tiny hand tightened.

The temptation was there, to grab her daughter and flee to the furthest corner of the universe, to keep running forever. But she could no more abandon her responsibility than Kami could.

"Her Demon side is still stronger." Hild pointed out.

"It is. But we both know what she truly is." Kami replied solemnly. Hild looked down on her daughter's beautiful face, smiling so happily now that she got to meet her father. Try as she might, the Demon could not deny Urd's fundamental goodness. She was a Norn, a Goddess of Time, and her first spell had used Goddess energy. Those were the terms she and Kami had agreed upon as she was born. Urd would live with Hild until she cast her first spell. And from there, she would be raised by whichever side she had unconsciously chosen. Hild knew she had been cheated, Kami had always known what his daughter would become.

And there was far more to that than Hild cared to admit. A child of hers practicing Goddess magic would be a target for every Demon in Hell. Urd was not safe, and whispers of assassination attempts already traveled the halls of the underworld. Power was such a tenuous thing in the Underworld, and even the slightest weakness could become fatal.

"Go to your father, Urd." Hild said, letting go of Urd's hand with great difficulty. Tears began to pool in her eyes, but she blinked them back.

Urd stopped halfway to Kami, looking back at her mother. Hild tried to smile. She knew that tiny face, so much like her own, would haunt her dreams.

"Mama? Aren't you coming?" Urd asked innocently.

It was too much for Hild to contain anymore. She turned her back on her daughter, trying to be strong for her. "I love you, Urd. Be good, for Kami-sama, okay?" And with that, she walked away, ignoring the cries of pain from behind her. Hild knew Urd was running toward her, and that Kami's strong hands held her gently.

"Mama!" Hild stopped for just a moment.

"Mama!" Urd cried again.

"Mama loves you, never forget that." Hild said, her voice cracking. She couldn't turn around, couldn't see her daughter, for if she did, she would take her hand and fly away from this place. She would break her contract, she would destroy the very fabric of time, if it bought her one more moment with Urd.

Instead she took another step forward, and vanished into the fog. Only when Urd's cries grew faint in the distance did she collapse and let her self-control fall away. Her tears were like acid, burning her skin, tearing her apart...

* * *

Velsper was entirely unprepared, again, for the force that practically tore him through space-time. The first time, he had wondered about it, but this time there was no doubt in his mind who had done the deed. He found himself on the opposite side of town from the temple, staring up at a _very_ familiar face.

"Hild-sama!" He tried to look happy, but that was hard for a cat to properly pull off even when the emotion was genuine.

"Enjoying your time on the other side?" A smile crossed the Daimakaicho's features.

"Oh no, it's torment. So much kindness. Whatever am I to do?" The cat replied, dripping with sarcasm.

"Do you serve me or not?" Hild pet the cat gently, eliciting an involuntary purr from it.

"Do I serve you? Of course I do!" Velsper acted as if the very question was insulting.

"So you've thrown in with the Goddesses, then." Hild laughed. "You never were very good at lying."

"I'm still a demon!"

"Are you? What demonic things have you done lately? Kill some mice? Did you go outside the litter box? Tsk tsk!" The Daimakaicho laughed at her own joke, lifting the hapless cat by its back fur. "Still have the wrong plumbing, I see." That involuntary sex-change had been rather annoying to the cat-demon, but it was hardly worse than being turned into a cat in the first place.

"If you don't like it you could always change me back." Velsper suggested, but he didn't think the demon leader had crawled all the way from the depths to give him a freebie.

"Funny, I was just considering that." The Daimakaicho dropped the cat and rubbed her chin thoughtfully, as if considering the notion for the first time.

"Now who is lying?" Velsper responded acidly. "What do you want." He sighed, staring at the ground.

"How is Mara doing?"

"Bad. You sent her to go live with Goddesses, how did you_ think_ that was going to work out?" The cat was almost as angry about it as Mara was. Almost.

"Well you should help her get along then, shouldn't you? Maybe she can get to know them as well as you have." Hild said acidly. There was a threat in there someplace, Velsper knew. It wasn't that he hated the Demon leader, it was simply that he was tired. He had been tired ever since his hack into Yggdrasil. He hated being a cat, but it at least afforded him peace and quiet now and again. Whatever Hild was planning was likely to be the end of that luxury for awhile.

"So what do I get out of it?" He asked, simply. One might as well get to the point.

"Want to be unboxed? Go back to your true form?" She smiled happily. "Imagine it! You could go home, or stay with the Goddesses and truly be with them. Or you could do your own thing, I won't even require you to come back to Hell."

"Yeah, sure. What else do you want?" It was tempting, but Hild's prices for _anything_ were usually way too high.

"Well, when the time comes I might need a portal summon. Nothing sinister, you understand. I just want to talk to Urd again. I'll even contract with you on it!" Hild offered, extending her hand.

"Hild-sama... I want to believe you, but I'm going to ask you to state the _full _contract." Velsper was intrigued in spite himself. Life did stink as a cat, there was no doubt about that. But he didn't want to betray the Goddesses either... especially Belldandy.

"Well, you always were a smart demon!" Hild smiled genially at him and stroked his fur gently. "Such a cute cat you make, you know!"

Velsper just glared at her and said nothing.

"Well then, be that way! Was just being friendly..." Hild's smile vanished, and for a moment he saw the Daimakaicho as she truly was, that manipulative streak, that love of deceit and trickery. This was probably stupid, he knew. "After coming through your portal, and for the duration of my stay thereafter, I won't seal or attack the Goddesses in any way. I won't seal or attack Keiichi, either, or anyone else in the temple. Only defensive spells will be used, in the case I am attacked."

"You said what you won't do." Velsper noted. "What WILL you do?"

"Well, that's my own business. But since you're a nice kitty... I want Urd back in my life. I won't take her to the Demon realm against her will or anything like that during my visit, though." She put her hand on her heart, and Velsper knew he was probably making a mistake. But it was his one chance to be free of this body again.

"One last request for the contract." Velsper's cat eyes narrowed in suspicion. Hild was known for obeying her contracts, but it was best to be clear about things with her. "You will not cause harm to Belldandy."

"Well, of course! I won't attack her or anything like that." Hild acted as if she were shocked at the very notion that he would suggest such a thing. It might have fooled a mortal, but it certainly didn't fool him. She'd seal Belldandy until the end of time if she thought she could get away with it.

"No, I want you to swear you will do nothing at all that will harm her in any way." The cat stood his ground.

"Well, I don't know. I don't really like her you know, so I'm not going out of my way to not offend her. She's not the focus of my visit though. Nothing I do will be directed at her. Will that be good enough? Or do I have to swear to have tea with her?" Sarcasm dripped from Hild's voice. Her pleasant facade collapsed completely for a moment, and Velsper knew that there was something under that after all. He hadn't sworn not to warn Belldandy, though. That was key. Of course, Hild had to know that he was going to warn her about it... this was a dangerous game.

"Very well. With those terms, and my restoration to my previous form, I will summon you. When are you coming?" Velsper asked, putting his paw in her hand to seal the transaction.

"I'd prefer sooner, but... I really want Mara to learn to get along with them first. So hurry that up, please."

"You might be waiting awhile, Hild-sama." Velsper rolled his eyes and trotted off in the general direction of the temple. "A really long while." He muttered under his breath.

* * *

"No! Absolutely not! There is no way I'm ever going to let Keiichi use me as a pincushion!" Mara yelled.

Urd smiled knowingly. "Well, you have a contract with us, right? And Keiichi needs to train with his new power."

The temple garden was pleasantly cool this afternoon, and there wasn't a cloud in sight, Mara reflected. She could finally relax after all the idiotic tasks they had put her through, and now they wanted Keiichi to train with her?

"I'm going to have to insist." Urd demanded.

"Fine! Puny mortal like that probably can't do anything anyway." Mara laughed maniacally, but truthfully, she didn't feel confident at all. She had always been something of a screw up. Sure, she was a _powerful_ screw up, but that didn't make it any less painful. Things just had a tendency to go horribly wrong in her life.

"Are you sure Belldandy is okay with this?" Keiichi asked. _Right_, Mara thought, _he's even more gullible than I am if he bought that story from Urd._

"You want to learn to use your angel, right? Be strong for Belldandy? You can impress her you know..." Urd said. Keiichi nodded simply in reply. "Well, we have a real demon right here! Might as well make her useful, right?"

"Okay... I guess so." Keiichi relented. "Come forth... MotorHead!" The tiny angel shot out of his body in a brilliant light. "Now what?"

"Well.. attack! Do something!" Urd demanded.

"Really. That's you're teaching method Urd? Keiichi... do something!" Keiichi glared at the Goddess.

"I really prefer a more hands-on teaching style, you know." Urd watched distractedly.

Mara just burst out laughing, pointing at the diminutive angel. "You want me... to fight THAT! Ha!" MotorHead glared at the demon, his lips moving in an inaudible curse.

"He doesn't like you very much." Urd pointed out. "I don't know if you should be taunting him like that."

"Ha! Look at how small he is. He'll see the power of a first-class demon!" Shadow-energy shot out towards Keiichi and his tiny angel. _Well,_ she thought, _I can always tell Hild I hurt him by accident, right? It's not my fault, they told me to do it! _Maybe she'd even be rewarded for it.

But as the energy cascaded toward him, a barrier suddenly materialized, and the tiny angel reflected the energy right back to the person who cast it. _Me,_ she realized suddenly as the energy slammed into her and knocked her off her feet.

"Crap!" Mara yelled. "Hey that hurt!" Smoke wafted off her singed clothing, and several burnt holes appeared in it. She had to adjust the remnants of her clothing in order to maintain her modesty.

"Good, Keiichi!" Urd smiled.

"Uh, I didn't do anything," he said, shaking his head.

"But, what was that?" The Goddess asked curiously.

"MotorHead did it. I just told him not to let that Demon hurt anybody." Keiichi was suddenly unstable on his legs, and fell to the ground. "I'm suddenly so... tired." Keiichi said.

Mara clambered back to her feet, charred from her own energy. "A reflection barrier, eh? How did a mortal learn how to do that?"

"He's not a mortal, idiot. He has an angel now." Urd tended to him, ignoring the demon. "Rest for a bit, we'll start again later." The norn cradled him in a manner that probably would have made her sister a little jealous. He was asleep within seconds.

"Still, did you tell him how to do that?" Mara brushed herself off.

"No. I have no idea how he did that. Maybe Belldandy taught him. Still, it's nice to know he can give you some of your own back." Urd smiled. "First-class idiot, I say."

"Oh you'll pay for that!" Mara began building up a second burst of energy.

"Going to break our contract then?" Urd asked innocently, looking at her nails as if the entire thing were just an episode of her favorite TV show.

"Uh.. no. Was just practicing for next time." Mara glowered, letting the built-up energy bleed off. "You know, you really suck."

"Blame your boss." Urd said distractedly, carrying Keiichi back into the house.


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note:** This story is about to take a much darker turn. I'm sure you were all probably wondering when that was going to happen, given the description.

* * *

Hagal felt excitement for the first time since the _true_ Daimakaicho had "overthrown" her. She had been useful to her mistress, but more importantly, her status in Hell had risen to unprecedented levels as a result of that favor. Even the Commander of the Guard gave her a wide berth now, bowing low as she passed.

She had never been a good at traditional demonic magic, but she had powers few other demons could even comprehend. Hagal had her orders from Hild, and she would carry them out with delight. A world for Demons hovered just around the corner.

"Rise." She said theatrically, resisting a giggle. "Have you found it?"

"I have, Lord." The Commander of the Guard answered briskly, offering Hagal the box. She took it, suppressing an urge to laugh at the uncomfortable demon warrior. He had never gotten over being defeated so easily during her brief stint as Daimakaicho, she knew, but it didn't matter. He would obey out of fear, at least.

"The Daimakaicho will be pleased." He accented Hild's title in an effort to spite her, but she didn't take the bait. In a strange, twisted sort of way, she loved her mistress.

"Are your forces prepared?" Hagal went through the motions. Hild was very scrupulous when it came to following the rules and the forms of the Demon world. Of course, that didn't mean the Daimakaicho didn't use them to her advantage. Hagal admired that particular talent of her Overlord.

"We can deploy at any time." The Commander's eyes glowed briefly with barely-contained glee. The Guard lived for fighting, and it had been eons since the last war between the realms.

"That's great!" She smiled with delight, before catching herself. It wouldn't do to appear so happy in front of _these_ demons. They were traditionalist, their regulations dating back to the foundation of Hell itself. They were obsessed with their self-imposed discipline and more direct forms of power. They were blunt instruments of conquest and destruction. Hagal preferred a more chaotic form of mischief and deception, but the Guard definitely had its uses.

"We march only on the orders of the Daimakaicho." The Commander stated simply, obviously still suspicious of her. But Hagal had been reinstated as the Regent and second-in-command after the usurpation incident, something which caused all sorts of controversy in Hell. Some demons thought Hild was entirely insane for not tormenting the usurper for an eternity of torture within the singularity of a black hole. Very few knew the truth.

"As you should! Hild-sama will tell us when she is ready." Hagal smiled. She peeked inside the box and laughed. Soon, she would have fun.

* * *

"Keiichi-san." Belldandy's voice woke him from the utterly strange dream he had been having. His head hurt and he still felt exhausted, but that voice could probably wake him from the edge of death.

"Belldandy..." He moaned. "What happened?"

"Your spell used up a lot of your energy, you had to rest awhile." Concern for him was plain on her face. He sometimes wondered why she loved him, why she stuck with a plain human like him.

"How did I do that, anyway?" He sat up on the mat, rubbing his temple. His head was spinning, but slowly the world around him came into focus.

"Holy Bell and I were teaching MotorHead how to defend you!" Belldandy smiled genially at him. "It looks like he learned very well. I'll always protect you, but, we thought we could teach MotorHead to help too."

"Speaking of which, where is he?" Keiichi wondered, not feeling the angel within his mind. Belldandy's eyes focused on something behind him, and he turned his head to see Holy Bell communing with the diminutive angel.

"What are they saying, anyway?" He asked.

"If you listen very closely, you can hear." Belldandy instructed. "Angels can link and share many things. We can communicate through them, too." She smiled happily.

Alarms went off in Keiichi's mind. There were all sorts of embarrassing things MotorHead could be whispering to Holy Bell. And he knew the tiny angel had a certain mischievous streak, one that he successfully suppressed in himself, but apparently couldn't excise entirely from his soul. Angels were reflections of your innermost self, Keiichi realized, not the self you chose to show to the world.

MotorHead winked at him. _Oh don't worry. Holy Bell and I were just discussing when you two were going to..._

"Okay! That's enough. I feel better already!" Keiichi exclaimed, turning a dark shade of red. Belldandy looked up at him oddly...

_You really are putting way too much thought into this. Look at her... you should kiss her. Holy Bell wants you to, you know. She's been pestering me about it the whole time you were sleeping. _MotorHead added. _For a supposedly quiet angel, she sure talks a lot!_

Belldandy smiled at him, and he couldn't help but notice her lips, or her general closeness. For that matter, her cheeks were flushed and she seemed to be staring at him in an odd fashion. Any other time, Keiichi probably would have went with it. The timing was perfect, and he knew she wanted it as much as he did. He couldn't explain how he knew, but there was a stronger connection between them somehow...

But he just couldn't do it with two angels watching him, anticipating his move...

_Oh, don't you worry! _MotorHead practically shoved Holy Bell through the door. _I got this._

Holy Bell was reluctant at first, resting her head in her arms, as if she had been waiting for this moment forever. But MotorHead's efforts finally paid off, and he managed to push the much larger angel out of the room.

A tiny hint of a smile crossed Belldandy's features, and he knew he was doomed. That moment had arrived. Their lips touched...

* * *

"Sake?" Urd asked, her voice slightly slurred. Night was falling at the temple and she apparently just wanted to get thoroughly trashed.

"Sure." Mara agreed halfheartedly, sitting down at the table. "Why the hell not?" Urd poured a drink for the demon and pushed it across the table.

"To Keiichi! Finally did something right." Urd managed, clinking glasses with the reluctant demon.

"You know how long I spent trying to break them apart?" Mara mused, downing the sake in one dramatic pull.

"You never could do a job right." Urd agreed, taunting her a bit.

"Shut up. More sake." Mara demanded, pounding the glass on the table. "I don't get it, why every one of my schemes blows up in my face."

"I get it." A sly smile crossed the Goddess's face.

"Yeah?" Mara was intrigued, in spite of herself. When the Goddess refused to pour her another drink, she just grabbed the bottle and took a long pull. "What is it?"

"You aren't really evil." Urd pronounced. "Remember when you forced Belldandy to hold a Demon license for awhile?"

"Yeah?"

"She had bad luck the whole time. She wasn't evil enough to be a demon, no matter what her license said." Urd wiped her chin theatrically, and for the tenth time in a week, she was reminded of Urd's mother. The two were more alike than either cared to admit.

"I don't like where you're going with this." Mara admitted. "I haven't had enough to drink for this kind of conversation."

"Mara... why don't you switch sides? You could, you know..." Urd wondered aloud.

"I would never betray Hild-sama." Mara's voice was firm, and her loyalty to the Daimakaicho was unswerving.

"See? What kind of demon has that intense of loyalty? Even demons who supposedly adore Hild aren't as fanatical as you are." Urd hiccuped. "What's the most evil thing you've done lately?"

"I put diesel in an unleaded tank at a gas station just before Hild brought me back here. That was funny. Ever seen what that does to an engine?" Mara laughed.

"How many people did you kill? How much misery did you create?"

"Hey! That's not fair. I'm a fucking demon! I don't have to justify my evil!" Anger flooded into Mara's voice, and she ripped the bottle from Urd's hand. "Just for that, the rest of this is mine."

"We were friends once, you know." The Goddess looked away, and produced another sake bottle from some cubbyhole in the wall. "Keep that one. I've got a fresh bottle!"

"Yeah..." Mara mused. "Friends..."

"You're not truly evil, Mara. You don't enjoy it like the others do, for you it's duty not pleasure. And your luck will continue to be terrible until you admit the truth about yourself." Urd's expression turned wistful. "Believe me, I know a thing or two about walking the line."

"I hate you when you make sense." Mara finished her bottle and threw it outside into the garden. "See, I littered. Evil. Goodnight, Urd."

_And I wish we could be friends,_ she thought to herself. _But she said it, I have a duty to perform. I am a demon, and I know my place in the world._

Neither the Goddess or the Demon was aware of a pair of feline eyes fearfully watching the exchange.

* * *

Keiichi awoke, groggy and confused for a moment. Then the memories of last night flooded his awareness. He turned to his side to see Belldandy beside him, and he smiled, enjoying the feeling of warmth and closeness. _Did that really happen?_ He wondered.

"SKULD BOMB!" A familiar voice yelled as he shot to his feet, diving behind a piece of furniture. The explosion was deafening, and in a moment Belldandy was on her feet.

"Skuld! Stop it! You could have hurt Keiichi-san." She was between them, suddenly, a stern look of disapproval on her face.

"But... he was with you and..." Skuld seemed torn for a moment.

Urd mercifully diffused the tension. "Come on, Skuld. You're too young to understand." Suddenly all the anger Skuld had focused on Keiichi was directed at her older sister instead. But Urd caught the young Goddess's arm in mid throw, and gently pried the explosive from her fingers.

"Kami told you to be nice." Urd wagged a finger at her.

"Hrmph." Skuld crossed her arms, but didn't deny it, marching out of the room in a hurry.

"She doesn't hate you, you know. Otherwise, she wouldn't have missed." Urd pointed out before turning away, her long, flowing hair swishing behind her. "Good job, Keiichi. About time." She added as she sauntered down the hall.

"Keiichi-san, are you all right?" Belldandy was inspecting him for evidence of harm.

"I'm fine!" Keiichi answered, brushing himself off as if it were nothing. _It sure scared the hell out of me, though, _he thought. One never knew what the day held when surrounded by Goddesses and Demons. That's when he noticed the angels.

MotorHead and Holy Bell were peeking around the corner. Holy Bell was giggling and MotorHead just gave his master a cheesy thumbs up. _About time,_ MotorHead smiled.

_It was so beautiful._ Another angelic voice intruded on his awareness, and though Keiichi had never heard it before, he recognized it right away.

_Holy Bell?_ He wondered, looking at Belldandy's angel. She was smiling from ear to ear, watching them both as if entranced.

_We are connected now, too, Keiichi. Your angel was right, you two really are..._

"Okay, I'm about done with angels embarrassing me for awhile!" He exclaimed. "So uh... what does this mean?"

"I admit I never thought we would be able to.. .communicate like this. I'm so glad though." Belldandy said. "It didn't matter to me, but..."

"But you wanted to be able to do that with someone." Keiichi finished. "Connect on that level."

"Hai." Belldandy agreed. "Your angel was right! You wanted me completely and..." Her cheeks flushed again, and Keiichi knew _exactly_ what was on her mind. _What a pair we are, I think every other couple on the planet must be laughing at us, _he thought. Certainly Urd had done her fair share of laughing at their expense. But then he realized what she had just told him.

"Wait, my angel told you that I wanted..." Keiichi glared at MotorHead, who shrank behind the door in a hurry...

* * *

Velsper paced around the temple, wondering just how to broach the topic. _Sorry, Belldandy, I betrayed you because I hate being a cat,_ he mused. No, that wouldn't do either. Try as he might, there really wasn't a nice way to spin this. And what was worse, Belldandy couldn't help but be kind, and that would only make him feel _more_ guilty.

He had fully expected it to take months for Mara to acclimate herself to these Goddesses, but listening in to Urd and Mara's conversation had convinced him of the truth. Mara didn't even want to be a demon anymore, even if she didn't realize it consciously. That was a concept he was definitely familiar with. He had to reveal the truth now, there wasn't as much time as he thought.

Blue Lance chastised him from within. _Yes yes I know,_ he thought, _I need to warn them. But Hild has to know I was going to. What's her angle?_

_Does it matter what her angle is?_ Blue Lance wondered.

_I guess not. Time to go face the music then._ Velsper gave up, padding over to where the Goddess was, of all things in creation she could possibly be doing, folding laundry by hand.

"Belldandy?" Velsper managed.

"Velsper." She smiled genially at him. "Enjoying the afternoon?"

"Not really. Hey look, we need to talk about something." Velsper sat at her feet. "Something really important."

"Hai." Belldandy agreed, sitting down. "What's wrong?"

"Hild is coming." He decided to just drop the bomb. "I don't know exactly when, but probably soon."

"How do you know?" She wondered. Sometimes Velsper wondered if she were really as innocent as she seemed to be. But no matter what the answer to that question was, anyone who assumed Belldandy's kindness was the same thing as stupidity had another thing coming. The Goddess was incredibly powerful and intelligent, underneath that soft exterior.

"She told me. Uh... she said she'd turn me back to my true self if I summoned her. But I got the impression that if I didn't agree to her terms..."

"She'd hurt you." Belldandy finished.

"Look, I'm sorry. I at least made her agree not to attack or seal anybody. I don't know what she's up to." Velsper admitted. "But I'm contractually bound to do it."

"She can't get through the barrier..." Belldandy mused. The temple had been protected by the best of enchantments and defenses three Goddesses could come up with. Coming in uninvited was difficult at best, as Mara had found out personally.

"She probably could, actually. It's just easier for her to con me into doing it for her with a portal summon." The cat scratched himself, then laid down dejectedly on the dirt. "I'm so sorry Belldandy. I have betrayed you."

"You didn't betray me, Velsper." Belldandy smiled at him. "You warned us, and you braved Hild for us. You're a good person."

Guilt flooded the cat's awareness, and he just laid in her lap, feeling terrible. His history as a demon faded from his memory more and more every day. He didn't even know what he was supposed to be any more. _Her friend,_ the thought came unbidden to his consciousness. _That's what I'm supposed to be. _Everything else seemed meaningless.

* * *

"Hild said _what?"_ Urd demanded, staring Mara down, and ignoring the cat altogether. She could deal with that treacherous ball of fur later.

"I didn't know." Mara protested. "I swear, all she asked me to do was come here, be good, and wait for her to contact me."

"Funny how you left _that_ part out of our contract." Urd rolled her eyes. "I take it all back, you really are an evil bitch."

"What is she up to, Mara?" Keiichi asked simply, without even a hint of anger. "You have to suspect."

"I don't know." The demoness just leaned against the wall, as if exhausted. "She said something about you, Urd. Wanting you back."

"She can try. It'll never happen. I'm a Goddess." But that was what it always came down to, didn't it? Her mother would _never_ stop trying to win her over, even if it took an eternity. At least this plot wasn't anything new.

"What's her plan?" Skuld asked, curiously.

"I don't know. She didn't tell me anything. I assume I'm supposed to do something nasty and evil to all of you eventually." Mara admitted, sighing with frustration. "I'm tired of this crap."

A sympathetic expression came across Belldandy's face. "Mara..."

"No, don't you even start that nice stuff with me. Makes me sick." The demon turned her head. "I kind of wish Urd were a demon, too."

"Why?" Multiple voices chorused.

"Because... she's the only friend I've got."

"And you don't even have me!" Urd yelled angrily, storming off.

"Neesan..." Belldandy whispered.

_Mara's exhausted? Ha, _Urd thought, once in the relative safety of her room,_ I'm the one who should be exhausted. I've spent my entire life fending off my mother's incessant scheming._ But try as she might, she couldn't bring herself to hate her mother, either. She had tried to forget the tears in Hild's eyes when she gave up her only daughter. Urd tried to forget her own tearful cries for her mother. But she couldn't, and even if she could avoid them while awake, when she fell asleep that dream haunted her.

_No, _she thought, _mother's going to get the message this time._


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

_One Month Later_

It had taken a long time for Urd to even talk to her again, and those had been agonizing days for Mara. Friendship in the Demon world did exist, but it was a very different thing than what she desired. Hild ruled by manipulation, by emotional control. And that was the norm for many others in Hell. There was also a sort of camaraderie based on mutual fear, a twisted form of respect and a desire to be admired. But never was there anyone for her to talk to, to drink with, to just have fun with.

And so those days where everyone had practically ignored her as a pariah had been particularly brutal and wearing. Mara didn't know what mysterious, sadistic urge had driven the Daimakaicho to send her here, but it hurt. It cut her deeply every day to watch those others, so happy, so full of life. As the night fell, she felt more alive, but it was never like Keiichi and Belldandy. She was alone, it was the one constant in her universe.

Dreaded conversation couldn't be avoided forever, though, and Mara once again sat across from her friend, and her enemy. As always, a bottle of sake called to both of them. For Urd, it was a power source, and a means of having fun. For Mara, it was a means of forgetting who she was and what she was supposed to be. Her carefree demon act had cracked and fallen apart around her, just leaving Mara, the woman.

She regarded Urd without her usual haughtiness. "I didn't betray anyone, you know."

"You should save it for people who care." Urd replied acidly, taking a sip from her glass.

"Shut up. You care." Mara said. "That's why you didn't stay in Hell, that's why you'll never go back."

"You'll sell us out for a bowl of rice, Mara. I don't understand why I bother with you anymore." But there was hurt in Urd's voice. Mara knew it was difficult for her, too, always being the outcast in Heaven, the tainted one.

"I don't really want to do it. But I owe the Daimakaicho my allegiance." Did she really believe that, though? What had Hild ever done for her, except use her as a punching bag for the enemies of Hell?

"Nobody owes my moth... her anything." Urd took nursed her glass slowly.

"I love her." Mara admitted. Urd's shocked expression forced her to clarify. "Not like _that._ I mean, she's all I've ever known. My only family."

"It's not like she adopted you, or anything. And she's my _real_ family, Mara... and I guess... I still care for her too. But that doesn't mean I have to do a damned thing she wants me to." Urd's glass slammed onto the table with almost enough force to break it. There was a lot of pent-up anger in there, Mara knew.

"I don't know why I'm here, Urd. But I don't want to do it. I never wanted to. I had a duty to perform, it was never personal." Mara pleaded.

"Oh, it was personal. Just not for you. It was personal for _her._ You're just her tool, her device." The Goddess smiled cruelly for a moment, and Mara knew she was speaking to that part of Urd that was almost as terrifying as her mother. "And she used you. She's _still_ using you, and you're just letting her do it."

"The only time I ever did anything right was when I defeated Momo. I brought him down, I defended the Daimakaicho!" Mara protested.

"A tool." Urd agreed. "You know why your powers worked for you there? You were trying to save a life, to do something unselfish. In other words, Mara..." She paused a moment, letting the truth sink in. "...you fought well because you were doing _good._"

Mara reached for the bottle, but Urd's hand caught hers. Urd's voice rattled her to the core. "Stop this. Switch sides before whatever Hild is planning comes out into the open."

"You've never tried to convert me before." Mara wondered.

"You've never been stuck with me for months, either." A hint of a smile crossed Urd's features. "And I admit, I'd like to stick it to the Daimakaicho where I can."

"So you'd use me as a tool, too?" The demon wondered.

"No, I'd set you free. That would spite her far more than me turning you into my servant, or something." Urd finished another glass. "You have a choice Mara, remember that, when she calls for you."

The Goddess sauntered away without another word, leaving Mara more confused than ever.

* * *

Keiichi was exhausted. Weeks of training under Belldandy's tutelage was interesting, but quite tiring. For a moment, he almost wished Urd was teaching him. At least the mischievous Goddess was less demanding of his time. But, beyond that, he could feel Belldandy's worry. She was preparing him as best she could, but it was clear she was frightened for him. Everyone knew the Daimakaicho was coming, and there wasn't really anything anybody could really do about it. It was as Velsper had said, if he didn't agree to summon her, she would just barge through their enchantments, and probably vaporize half the city in so doing.

For his part, he had never been as afraid of Hild as he supposed he should have been. It was true he was awestruck by her power and her ability to manipulate. Yet somehow, he couldn't bring himself to fear that power. Perhaps he had been living with Goddesses too long and had simply become so accustomed to strange things happening he lost the ability to be impressed by the demon. Or perhaps it was as Urd said, and he had just lost his mind.

That had served him well in training, at least.

_That and we really don't have a whole lot of power. All of our energy is bleedoff from these three._ MotorHead reminded him, pointing to where Urd and Skuld were watching today's events. It was true, most of the actual power he was using was leftover energy from those two. It was everywhere in the Temple, and while it was a meaningless trifle to them, it was incredible power to him.

Belldandy smiled at him, despite herself.

"Keiichi-san," she said, "remember not to use power too quickly. You'll tire and then..."

"And then I won't do anyone any good by sleeping." Keiichi agreed. Belldandy nodded in reply, and he allowed himself a moment of rest. Despite what Kami had told him, it was difficult to think of her as a _wife._ Their relationship had only just started to open up, to change fundamentally. He had never been exactly quick-moving about these sorts of things. But as he regarded her, he smiled. Whatever else, he felt as if he were the luckiest man alive.

_Hey! Pay attention! _MotorHead chastised.

Skuld built up a low-level fire spell, for Urd and Belldandy had both been training her more lately and this was as much for her benefit as his own.

"Can you do this Keiichi?" The young Goddess asked, smirking.

_We're useless at fire spells._ MotorHead explained. It was still strange to be doing any kind of magic at all. Keiichi had always been of a more mechanical mind, less concerned with all the metaphysical and philosophical implications of things. The angel, too, seemed to have a more mechanical way of looking at magic.

"No." He admitted. "Good job!"

"You're starting to grow up!" Urd clapped, winking at Skuld. "Maybe a thousand years from now you'll actually be able to do something with that little flame!"

"Neesan, she's doing really well." Belldandy chastised. She wasn't one to show anger, or even feel it very often, but Keiichi had long ago learned to read the signs. And Belldandy had become very serious about this training, for all of them. "You're learning very quickly Skuld." She smiled happily at her younger sister.

"Just you watch. I'll get Keiichi with this one!" Skuld manipulated the little flame, building up the power within it.

"Uh..." Keiichi managed.

"Be careful, Skuld." Belldandy warned.

"Well this will be interesting." Mara mused, taking a long pull from a sake bottle. "At least I don't have to be the target today." The demon was sprawled out on the deck, half drunk, watching with wry amusement.

_Reflective Barrier? _MotorHead inquired. It was the only spell he had demonstrated any real high-level talent for. Belldandy had explained that it was due to his nature, his desire to protect those he loved. His Goddess was never wrong about things like that.

_No. Let's cool her off._ That spell was powerful, but would knock him right out if he used it too often. Keiichi was no God, as Urd had explained to him, he simply didn't have the higher awareness they did. But his thoughts had been expanding since he had received his angel, and he caught a glimpse here and there of what it must be like for them. He caught hints of their true form from time-to-time, and his understanding of their energy had increased greatly. Exploiting the opposing form of magic could amplify its effect, and he needed all the help he could get.

He tried to build up a cold spell, but he was so tired... Still, energy coalesced out of the air, blasting Skuld's small fire with icy wind. The flame sputtered and died.

"Keiichi! I finally got this spell to work and you blow it out!" Skuld stomped her foot angrily. "Banpei!"

_Uh-oh._ MotorHead said unnecessarily. _Should have seen that coming._

The last thing Keiichi saw was a missile flying straight at him. The barrier went up in time, but he had used the last of his conscious energy...

* * *

A McDonalds was certainly an odd place to meet, Hild thought to herself. But her underlings didn't get out much, and to them the fast-food restaurant was a true luxury. The Earth Realm offered many pleasures for the demons, though Hild doubted seriously if this qualified as one of them. The short lives of mortals produced a strange, driving need to do everything too quickly, and the food here spoke to that.

On the other side of the table, Hagal grinned as she sampled some kind of greasy substance. As odd as it seemed to her, Hild would greatly have preferred to sample Belldandy's cooking. Goddesses were annoying, endlessly sanctimonious creatures, but they definitely out-rated the mortals in cooking.

"Hild-sama... the box you needed." Hagal was deceptively child-like, something the demon used to her advantage frequently. Hild knew her lieutenant was incredibly dangerous. Even though the usurpation had gone according to her wishes, it had counted on Hagal being a devious and ambitious creature, addicted to power, fearful of almost nobody.

But for now, she had proven herself useful once more.

"The _true_ Pot of Heresy." Hild explained, withdrawing the small ceramic piece from the box. "I once sent a cheap copy to Mara to, shall we say, stir up some trouble."

"The Guard wants to know when they can move into the Earth Realm." Hagal eyed the artifact, taking a sip from her chocolate shake. The arcane device was considered rather disturbing even in Hell. But the power it contained was undeniable.

"Soon." Hild explained, tucking the artifact back into its box. "We will need a new First-class demon to replace Mara before that, however. Any candidates strike your fancy lately?"

Hagal considered that a moment, smiling in dramatic fashion. "Are you planning to demote her? She certainly deserves it." Mara's repeated failures were practically a legend in the underworld.

"I'm considering a kind of trade, actually. But never mind that." Hild regarded her subordinate curiously. "So, you had ideas for me?" The demon leader smiled graciously. Hagal caught the warning, sinking slightly in her chair. The Daimakaicho preferred not to threaten outright when subtlety would do.

"Well, there's that guy in the Legal Department, Forseti. You remember, he verified your interpretation of your new term after... er... the incident." Hagal squirmed uncomfortably for a moment, before deciding it was actually somewhat amusing. Demonic Lawyers were a special sort of evil, and they often found themselves in the wish granting business, much to the dismay of their clients.

"Interesting. There hasn't been a First-class Demon in that department for awhile." A bit of laughter escaped her lips at that. "Good. Send him up here when you get back down." The Daimakaicho stood theatrically, her breasts spilling out of her loose clothing. A teenager struggled to look away, but the demon leader simply smiled, enjoying the feeling of corrupting the young man. The man's girlfriend glared at the demon, but that too was enjoyable. Jealousy was a delicious emotion, except when it afflicted her. Kami's wife would get what was coming to her soon enough.

"Hild-sama... may I ask what you are doing here?" Hagal looked up at her leader with a tinge of admiration.

"You wanted a perfect world for Demons, right?" She smiled, adjusting her dress to give the awestruck teenager a better view.

Hagal merely nodded.

"You thought you could just build a new Nifelheim up here. But we already have one. Why do we need two?" The demonic leader turned away from the lustful young man and stole a sip of Hagal's shake. "Heaven says we are corrupting these mortals, but aren't we actually freeing them to do what they _truly_ desire? That's why we're here. How boring would it be if we ran out of innocent souls to.. enlighten?"

"But I thought we wanted to take all the shares of..." Hagal considered this a moment, grinning as she suddenly got it. "You want to keep the balance with Heaven so new innocents are created that we can... enjoy?"

"I knew you were smart." The Daimakaicho smiled, grabbing the box and turning away.

"But... why the invasion then?" Hagal called out.

Hild turned around and laughed, her eyes glowing faintly. "Sometimes you have to stir the pot a little." She clutched the box tightly and vanished out the door, the approving eyes of several men following her departing figure as it left.

* * *

Velsper didn't even flinch this time, as the familiar apparition of the Daimakaicho reached for him through dimensions beyond the comprehension of the mortal realm. It was nighttime in the outskirts of Nekomi, and the abandoned factory he found himself in was certainly auspicious enough, even if it wasn't Hild's normal style.

He didn't even bother to greet her. They both knew why he was here.

"Velsper!" Hild said excitedly. "It is good to see you again." She was wearing her happy, excited personality today, as if she just picked it up out of a closet somewhere and had decided it looked good on her.

"I'm sure." The cat replied.

"You're such a good cat, helping me visit my daughter." She exclaimed.

"I suppose." Velsper growled. "We had better be on with it." He began drawing the circle, placing within it the password of welcome.

"Your summoning skills have improved." She said. "Maybe I should make all my senior demons spend some time as a fourth-level creature."

"I haven't had much else to do except study the programming language." The cat mused, drawing out more of the circle. "I'll need you to sing the entrance password, however."

"You can't sing?"

"It doesn't work when you're a cat." A slight hiss of displeasure accompanied his statement.

"What is the password you need me to sing?" The demon leader asked innocently.

"First thing is first. You are adhering to our contract?" Velsper wasn't about to give up his price, it was far too expensive to forget.

"Of course, of course." Hild dismissed it as if it were a mere trifle. And apparently for her, it was. He didn't even _hear_ the spell that transformed him. One moment he was locked in a cat's body, the next he was himself again. "Now, the password."

He told it to her, and for a moment her eyes glowed and her face took a dark turn. Energy leaked out from around her form and for a moment he saw the _real_ Daimakaicho. That terrifying shadow might have rendered an unprepared mortal comatose. Violet light shone around her form, lighting the chains and abandoned scraps in the factory with an ominous flow. She stepped into the circle.

"You aren't taking me back?" Velsper wondered, suddenly.

"That wasn't in our contract." Hild said wickedly. "You'll also find that while your form has been restored, your powers are not restored to their previous levels. You can walk." And she was gone in a flash of demonic energy, shadows flickering in the dark.

"Blue Lance." He called, and the angel was there. She had once been converted to light by Belldandy, but had since grown with him, and had come to reflect his conflicted nature between light and dark. One wing was beautifully white and elegant, the other was spotted, deformed, covered in gray tones. A sadness had overcome her, too, one that she never seemed to have with Belldandy. It was all proof, in his mind, of his conflicted, fallen nature. He admired the purity of the Goddess, but could never achieve that himself.

She smiled at him, but it was a hollow thing. She knew how he felt, she had _become_ him.

_You will help her..._ Blue Lance said. _You will fight._

_Yes, I will. I just wish I didn't have to. _He answered. She nodded in turn, and vanished again.

He conjured up some clothing, for walking around the city in the nude would hardly help his cause. That, at least, remained in his power. The entity, neither Demon nor God, put his hands in his pockets and trudged out onto the streets of Nekomi.

* * *

Urd could feel her mother's presence, and it was thing she dreaded. Of course, with Velsper's confession, she knew it was only a matter of time. She could have kicked the demons out, but then Hild would just break through the defenses of this place with brute force instead of finesse. There was no escaping the Daimakaicho when she truly decided to come calling.

"Urd-chan!" Hild smiled genially, embracing the Goddess. Urd refused to return the hug, refused to even acknowledge her as anything other than one more demon in a temple that already had no more vacancies for them, least of all at midnight.

"Hild." Urd said blankly. "Why are you here?"

"I can't see my own daughter?" She looked hurt, even offended, and Urd allowed herself some grudging admiration for how well her mother played people.

"You can skip it. Velsper told us everything."

"Of course he did!" Hild smiled. "I didn't want to drop in unannounced. It would be rude of me! Ah, Belldandy!" The demon leader caught Belldandy in a tight hug. The Goddess returned it, for that was always Bell's way. But Urd knew her sister well, and she could see the turmoil behind Belldandy's eyes. Everyone had been dreading this moment for almost two months.

"Ma-chan..." Hild called. "I know you're out there..." Her voice was silky and flirtatious but Urd knew that sound for what it was.

"Hild-sama." The first-class demon answered, walking out from the temple as if her legs were not her own. She came to a stop just before the steps, bowing to one knee.

"Oh come now, Mara. Am I really that bad?" The Daimakaicho asked.

Mara wisely said nothing. Skuld took one look at the demon-leader and quickly fled back to her room, probably in search of more explosives, Urd mused. That just left Keiichi who, foolish mortal though he was, was probably the only person in the entire scene who didn't show an ounce of fear. Once, Urd thought Keiichi was just ignorant, but the Goddess had come to realize that the human had his own sort of bravery, and it was inspired almost entirely by her sister.

"Keiichi." Hild's voice changed in that moment. It was a subtle thing, but Urd was a Goddess of Love, and she was trained to pick up on these things. Something was very wrong about the way she spoke his name.

"What do you want." Urd spoke for all of them.

"Well, I sent Ma-chan here as a gift, you know. And I wanted to see how things were working out! I told that cat..." She looked around, as if searching for him. "...to tell me when she had learned to get along."

"I've obeyed your instructions, Hild-sama." Mara said flatly. "I have been on good behavior."

"Have you now? Well, you never were very good at being bad." The Daimakaicho winked at the hapless demon. "It's nice to know you can be a good servant, though. That will be useful."

"Is that it then? Yes, Mara is being good. No, I don't want to go be a Demon or get sappy with you." Sarcasm laced Urd's voice. "So can you go home now?"

"Really, there is no need to be so rude. How about I join you for tea?" The demon stared at Belldandy for a moment, before the Goddess nodded.

"Hai." Belldandy said crisply. "Tea..." There was a hint in that voice, however, that no one could miss.

"She makes the best tea, doesn't she Urd-chan?"

Urd groaned.

* * *

Hours had droned by, and Hild made every effort to keep the conversation going, which was a major achievement when her own daughter was trying so hard to get rid of her. But politeness was a character trait of both Keiichi and Belldandy, no matter her origins, and she could count on that politeness carrying through until her job was done.

A piece of herself flowed beneath the floorboards, coalescing under the temple. It wasn't a large piece, in fact it was actually smaller than most of her daughter's small forms. But it would do the job. Hild was a model demon, truly polite and utterly sincere in her contract. No harm would come to anyone from this visit, but she was already making arrangements for a second visit, and that one had no contractual stipulations.

"Why are you really here? Keep in mind, Tamiya told us you were snooping around." Urd asked.

"I missed you." Hild said, with none of her usual flirtatiousness. It was truth, she knew. The demon couldn't say why this bothered her, or how she had come to love her daughter so intensely. In the underworld, it was uncommon to be have such strong attachments to one's offspring. Oh, there was a certain level of connection that was allowed, and pride ran in families as strong as blood and power. But it was different for her daughter.

"That, I believe." Keiichi said.

Hild withdrew her spade, drawing a glare from Belldandy.

"Uh, let's not be hasty now." Keiichi added, nodding to emphasize his point.

Hild let it linger a bit before thinking better of it. It wouldn't do to prod him too much at this point. And she did, unfortunately, promise that fallen demon not to attack anyone.

"Thanks." The human sounded relieved.

"You are welcome." She smiled genially. "You must forgive my temper. People are always saying I'm so deceitful!"

"You are." Urd supplied helpfully. Her daughter made it a point to not offer to share her sake, downing the liquid in large gulps.

"I keep my contracts." The Daimakaicho protested. "In fact, that's one reason I'm here."

"We have no contracts with you." Belldandy kept a watchful eye on the demon, obviously torn between her politeness and her deep-seated suspicions of all things demonic.

"I would like to make one with you. All of you."

"Here it comes." Urd hiccuped. Mara sat next to her friend, watching Hild with a mixture of fear, adoration and hatred. The conflicted demon wouldn't last much longer as such, she knew.

"What kind of contract?" Belldandy asked, pouring more tea.

"I will leave you alone, all of you. No attacks for a century, if you will visit me, Urd. in Nifelheim. At least once a year. Just for one day each year." Hild smiled at her daughter, genuinely this time.

"No way." Urd replied. "I told you, I am a Goddess. I'm not becoming a demon, I'm not going to Hell, and I'm not calling you... that word." But her daughter's face was clouded with emotion, the same emotions the demon leader had seen upon her face once before. She felt that familiar ache in her heart, the same one she had felt when she let go of her daughter's hand and Kami had taken her.

She frowned. Even at this juncture, if Urd had taken the offer, she might have withdrawn her plans. But she was committed now. The piece of herself hid itself beneath Mara, the First-class demon masking her tiny piece's energy, which otherwise would have been easily detectable by the Goddesses. _Thanks Ma-chan,_ she thought.

Mara couldn't be relied upon to do anything, but this plan didn't require to do anything except be there, to hide the energy of her small self. The Pot of Heresy appeared beneath the floorboards, still unknown to the Goddesses.

"Why not?" The demon leader asked.

Urd seemed to consider that for a long while. Silence hovered over the table like a blanket.

"I can't. Even being there for such a short time... I nearly lost control of it." Urd admitted finally. "You know that, too."

"I guess I do." Hild answered. "I still want to see you."

"Why? Why do you care? You just left me!" The thin veneer of control left Urd for a moment, and tears started to pool her eyes.

"Neesan..." Belldandy whispered, her hand gripping her sister's shoulder in support. "It's okay."

The Daimakaicho smiled. "Yes, it's okay." She agreed.

"I hate you." Urd lied, her voice dripping with acid.

"Can the rest of you leave for a moment? I want a word with my daughter, alone." Hild said.

"You'll just take Urd away and..." Keiichi began.

Anger flooded Hild's awareness, and her energy cascaded around her like a roiling storm. "I _keep_ my contracts. Don't question me foolish boy." For just a moment, her genial self vanished _entirely, _replaced by the Empress of the Underworld, the Queen of Hell. Her expression was twisted in rage.

"It's okay." Belldandy soothed. "She loves her daughter very much, Keiichi-san. We can go for a moment." Keiichi still didn't look convinced, but he followed the Goddess out of the room. Hild allowed herself to appreciate the former mortal's attributes. Physically he was, of course, rather unimpressive, but he actually contained a small amount of divine power. She could sense the angelic presence within him, and that only made the idea of corrupting him so completely even more delicious. It was his spirit which had attracted Belldandy, and had even won over her daughter and Skuld. Beings such as they, Demons and Gods, had a much different concept of attractiveness, and Keiichi was about as high on that scale as a mortal could possibly be. This would actually be _fun_ for her.

Mara, on the other hand, had needed no encouragement to escape the Daimakaicho's presence. She slunk off in a hurry, with a brief bow of respect before taking taking off.

"What do you want?" Urd's voice hovered on petulance. She dropped the finished sake bottle, as if afraid to face her mother sober. Hild surprised her, reaching for her in a tight hug.

The demon whispered in her daughter's ear. "Mama loves you."

And in a sudden flash the embrace was broken, and Hild was gone. Most of her, anyway.

Beneath Keiichi's room, a tiny figure draped itself over the true Pot of Heresy and smiled in anticipation.


	6. Chapter 6

Author's Notes: And now, the fun begins.

**Chapter 6**

Keiichi felt himself falling into the dreamworld, and like all such dreams since his angel had become a part of him, he maintained a strange sense of consciousness. It was as if MotorHead somehow anchored his awareness. That brought more questions to his hazy mind. Did Gods dream? When Belldandy slept, what did she feel?

_You'd like to know that, wouldn't you? _A tantalizing voice offered. _What does she dream about? Is it you? Maybe you'd like to see the pleasures within her mind?_

"Who are you?" He asked, not expecting an answer. This was his dream, after all.

_No one special. Call me a friend, or more than a friend, if you dare._

The feminine voice was alluring, it dripped with barely contained lust. It echoed from all around him, powerful and strong. Reality changed, and he found himself alone as an unrecognizable civilization fell to barbaric invaders. Fires reached into the skies of the surrounding desert. The screams of the dying were drowned out by something darker... the cries of unrestrained lust and pillage.

Belldandy...

The thought brought his semi-conscious mind back to a semblance of self. The mysterious civilization vanished, his mind recovered control, and the blackness came again. His Goddess anchored him, she was the foundation upon which he rested. Belldandy was his conscience, his guide, his inspiration and his love, rolled into one beautiful form. Whatever the mysterious voice offered him, how could it compare?

_Come now. Is that all you want? Your desires have been released. I know your thoughts, your needs._

It was true there were deeper desires in his mind, and they had crashed into his awareness like a flood, as if the dam had broken. He remembered the kiss, the searing emotion burning his brain. It was as if his entire soul were on fire. Since that day, physical contact _had_ happened, and it sharpened his senses. Somewhere, he knew, Belldandy's warmth was beside him.

_So take what you want. You have been released. Experience the pleasures..._

"Who are you?" He repeated. The blackness of his dream lifted, and somehow, impossibly, he was halfway across the Earth. The ancient, crumbling ruins of Rome were before him, and he stood in the wreckage of that long-dead civilization. The Coliseum loomed over him. The ghosts of gladiators and sacrificial victims were about him, staring at him accusingly.

_Interesting you should ask. I grant the power to build. The power to destroy. The power to live as you would._

"You're no Goddess." Keiichi realized.

_That depends on your point-of-view. _Silky tones tantalized him, echoing from all around the forgotten ruins. The scene shifted again, water flowing around him as he sank into the abyss. Darkness surrounded him, but somehow he could still see. The _Yamato,_ the greatest of all battleships, lay battered and torn upon the sea floor, where the torpedoes and bombs had left her.

He gazed upon the watery tomb, and found he could still speak. "Your work?" He asked.

_Yes. I granted the power to build her, and the power to destroy her. That is what mankind does. They build, they tear down, again and again._

"What do you want from me?" Keiichi asked, his voice muffled and faint in his mind.

The scene around him shifted again, and he was in his old dorm, unlucky and unfortunate. Belldandy came to him from the mirror, and he smiled at that thought. How much had he changed in the intervening years? He had confidence now, born in the ashes of dozens of personal victories, secure in the knowledge that he loved, and was loved in turn. He had family, friends, and a life most men could only dream of.

_You have already been built up._ The voice agreed.

And he saw Belldandy crying, her sobs melting into a swirling storm beyond the temple. Each tear was a torrent of rain, each sob the wailing of the wind. The typhoon built up off the coast of Japan, its energy fueled by the terrifying sadness of a Goddess. Cries of terror were everywhere...

_Time to tear you down._

And he screamed a soundless scream.

* * *

Mara felt that voice almost before she heard it. She wanted to deny it, to tell herself that she was imagining it. But the power of the Daimakaicho was undeniable. Hild's voice forced its way into her mind, heedless of Mara's attempts to stop it.

"Really, Ma-chan, you never were very good at that." Hild's voice chastised. "Sometimes I wonder why I even bothered giving you a first-class license to begin with."

"You needed a patsy." Mara answered, defiant to her overlord for the first time in her life. Urd had reached her, she knew, given her a strange sort of hope. She still despised the deliriously happy couple, and generally felt as if the world deserved a lot of what the demons gave it. She just didn't feel like being the one to dish it out anymore.

The voice seemed to ponder that a moment. "It's not like that at all, Mara. You know that I love you." Hild's voice was seductive, and for a moment, it was as if the Daimakaicho's lips were pressing against hers. She could see Hild's love in her mind's eye, the blushing of her cheeks, the look of adoration the demon leader's eyes...

"Knock it off!" Mara said angrily, shattering the projected image. She was done with this manipulation. "What do you want, anyway?"

"Well, I told you I would be sending further instructions, right?" The Daimakaicho paused for effect. "All I need you to do is leave the temple, right now. And come back in thirty minutes."

"That's it?" Mara wondered. Of course, there had to be a purpose behind it. She was no fool.

"That's it." Hild agreed. "Just say you're getting some fresh air."

Mara reached within herself, trying to find some of her supposed strength. She didn't feel like being a tool for Hild's machinations, not anymore. She didn't know who or what she was supposed to be, but no matter what, she was her own woman.

"And if I decline?"

"Well," the voiced seemed oddly agreeable, "I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to offer you a release contract."

Mara was incredulous. "A... release?"

"Yes! Do you want to freelance for awhile? Well, that's no problem." The voice whispered in her ear, tempting her. "All you have to do is leave the temple, right now."

For a moment, Mara considered refusing anyway. Urd had told her she would sell out anyone for a bowl of rice, and she didn't want to believe the truth of it. But she _was_ a demon. And it wasn't like she was doing anything at all, was it? She was just going to take a walk.

But lying to herself was a skill Mara had lost in the months spent at the temple. She had seen that moron Keiichi embarrass himself trying to perform rudimentary magic. The first-class demon had spent the nights drinking with Urd, swapping old stories from the endless competition between Heaven and Hell. And Belldandy's cooking was a special sort of pleasure, even if the Goddess herself was insufferably good. Even that little brat, Skuld, had her value.

"Just walk away." Hild's voice was smooth, crisp. It commanded obedience, yet it was oddly gentle, like a whisper in her ear. The tones shifted, it was hypnotizing, mesmerizing. Her consciousness wavered, and she was moving.

"Just a few more steps." The voice offered seductively.

Mara's legs were moving, and she found herself at the gate, about to step into the street. A sake bottle lay where the Daimakaicho had tossed it months before. Was she in control of herself?

"Come now, Mara." An image of Hild as a child was in her mind, cute and loving. Her smile was infectious, she was just like the little girl that had once stared back at Mara in the mirror. She had been innocent then and...

For a moment, her willpower reasserted itself. She was a first-class demon, and no matter how many times in her life she had failed, she had power, she had confidence in herself. Her legs were iron, impossibly heavy, and she willed them to stand where they were. Child-Hild opened her arms in welcome, urging her forward in the promise of a hug.

The struggle brought tears to her eyes. Hild's will was overwhelming, her power beyond comprehension, but still Mara refused to budge. Hadn't she been that way once before?

"No." Mara said out loud. And she felt the anger, the frustration within the Daimakaicho's mind. She tried to scream, to call out to the Goddesses within the temple, but she felt the iron grip of Hild's will clamp down on her. She couldn't even warn them.

"One more step, Ma-chan." The image of child-Hild shattered into a thousand pieces, and the Daimakaicho was there in the fullness of her power. Shadowy tentacles swarmed around her, breaching Mara's defenses, urging her forward. A thousand voices whispered in her mind, breaking the last resistance she could muster. A tear splashed on the pavement. Her leg lifted, quivering with the battle of minds.

Her foot struck pavement. One more to go. Mara snapped, finally. Urd had explained it to her, she fought well in the defense of others. That was her purpose. Energy built up in her mind, and she pulled from a hidden reservoir of strength, pouring herself into that mental attack.

Hild was thrown back with violent force. Energy crackled around the Daimakaicho, draining her, and the demon leader fell to one knee. For a moment, Mara was shocked with herself. She had never expected her attack to actually succeed. _Urd was right,_ she thought, _I can only access my full ability this way._ What that meant for her future as a demon didn't bear thinking on. She started to turn back to the temple in triumph, but she only heard a delighted chuckle.

"Well, that was a surprise!" The Daimakaicho recovered almost immediately, and any semblance of restraint vanished from her. "You know, I've never liked surprises much, but that was very good." The attack that followed broke through Mara's mental defenses almost effortlessly. She heard a voice whimpering, and realized suddenly that it was her own.

She fell onto the pavement outside the temple grounds in a dejected heap.

"Thanks, Ma-chan!" The figure smiled happily at her. The Daimakaicho floated into the temple in Mara's place, the energy masked by the simultaneous entrance and exit. That, Mara realized, was Hild's reason for forcing her into the temple. The Goddesses had become used to powerful demonic energy in their midst. Hild could enter the temple undetected for a short while and do whatever it was she came to do. "You are released. I have no further use for you."

"I'm sorry, Urd." She whispered as unconsciousness mercifully took her away from the reality of her failure.

* * *

Belldandy felt it almost immediately. Keiichi was in trouble. Her senses were attuned to his, she could feel his emotional state, see it in his aura, even when fully asleep. She awoke with a start to find him covered in a sweat, shaking uncontrollably.

"Keiichi! Wake up!" She screamed, without realizing the power of that voice.

"Belldandy..." Keiichi managed. "Belldandy..."

"Keiichi..." Something was very wrong, Belldandy knew. Holy Bell was in the back of her mind, fearful and desperate.

_I can't hear MotorHead._

That didn't make any sense, an angel would never leave its master. A poorly chosen order might send the angel into dormancy, but it would never flee completely. It simply wasn't possible.

Relief flooded into her awareness, followed by confusion.

_Wait. I sense him, but... he's outside. And he's moving away._

"Bad dream..." Keiichi began to snap out of it. "Hild." But whatever energy had sustained him fell away again, and he passed into unconsciousness.

Worry flooded her awareness. The demon had done something to Keiichi, that was clear, and she felt anger building up within her. It was an emotion she despised in herself, something she had been ashamed of before she had met Keiichi. But she loved him, human or not, and her fury had a righteous tone to it. She couldn't feel shame now, she had to use that anger to save him from this threat.

"Urd!" She yelled. Apparently her older sister had known something was up already, and peeked her head in the room almost immediately.

"What's wrong with him?" Concern was written on Urd's face. Skuld was behind her, a confused look overcoming the young Goddess.

"Hild. She's done something to him. Stay with him, Urd." Belldandy kissed his forehead gently, her eyes filled with love. But when she stood, she was fury incarnate. "I mean it. Stay with him, Urd. Keep him safe."

"I will. Go." There were many times when Urd could be called unreliable or flighty. And in Heaven, Urd's exploits, and short attention span, were legendary. But Belldandy knew that beneath all of that was one of the strongest, most trustworthy Goddesses to ever live. Urd would protect him, long enough to do what she needed to do.

_Hurry. _Holy Bell urged. _Something is wrong with MotorHead. _

She flew out from the temple, her robes fluttering behind her. Above, the weather patterns began to change as Belldandy's power started to leak from her seals.

Keiichi's angel was there, floating at the edge of the temple grounds, just behind the enchantment barrier. It was as Holy Bell had told her, though. Something _was _wrong with him. He was responding like his master was ordering him away.

There was a force urging the angel onward, calling to him. _Could it be an angel eater? _She wondered. Hild had tried that trick once before, and it could explain a great many things. But that arcane creature had cause angels to run off very quickly. MotorHead was acting as if he was conflicted, drawn both to Keiichi and to something else equally powerful, not suddenly gripped by irresistible force.

_MotorHead!_ Holy Bell cried. The bond between angels of lovers was strong, and maybe it could pull him back to Keiichi somehow. For a moment, Keiichi's angel hesitated and turned back to face Belldandy. A rush of love and relief came from it, then. Holy Bell returned it, and the first hints of a smile crossed the Goddess's features. Perhaps everything would be fine after all. MotorHead smiled and began to float back toward the temple.

Then she saw them.

Keiichi was there, standing in front of her, his hand placed firmly in Hild's grasp. MotorHead floated away again, despite Holy Bell's pleas. The angel was following him, drawn to his master. The demon tightened her grip on Keiichi, leaned forward, and kissed him on the lips. Belldandy didn't understand how this was possible, Keiichi had just been in in her arms a moment before. It wasn't possible that Hild could have stolen him from Urd so quickly, was it?

Silence hovered for a moment, and Belldandy tried in vain to restrain herself. She had never felt such dark emotions in her life. The Goddess had never thought herself even _capable _of them. She knew she was attached to Keiichi. It was she had told the gate spirit some time before. Where he was concerned, she was less than generous.

But the sight of Hild holding him and kissing him drove her into a rage. Holy Bell called out, not to MotorHead, but to her mistress, warning her, trying to talk her down.

Wind was everywhere, a terrifying tornado appearing out of nowhere, dirt and wreckage flying about everywhere. Lighting flew from it, crackling as the force built up.

"Do it, and you'll hurt Keiichi." Hild smiled. "You wouldn't want that, would you?"

The tornado didn't move. It hovered just in front of the pair, menacing and powerful. Above them the storm system continued to build up. Hurricane-force winds were everywhere, even outside the swirling energy.

"Release him from whatever spell you put him under." Belldandy warned, her voice hard and resolute.

"You want him to be happy, right?" Hild gripped Keiichi's hand firmly. "He has found that I can give him something you can't. And he can give me something in return." The demon smiled warmly. "It's not so bad, Belldandy. We can both be happy. I'm really doing you a favor here, you know. I made your Keiichi more pure!"

"Let him go." Urd's voice called out. Hild's daughter was there, standing next to... another Keiichi, still sweating and struggling to walk. MotorHead stared at both copies of the human, struggling to make sense of it. Confusion reigned.

The tornado of energy collapsed around them as Belldandy struggled to understand what had happened. Hild lifted the Pot of Heresy and grinned deliciously. _He's been separated, or cloned, with that, somehow, _she realized.

"Well, it would have been nice to have the angel too. But I guess we'll be going now." In a flash, Hild was gone, taking the other Keiichi with her, leaving Belldandy with that memory playing over again and again in her mind's eye. Hild's lips were touching his and...

The storm above began to dissipate, and Belldandy fell to the ground in horror. Holy Bell flew, heedless of her mistress's command, comforting Keiichi's tiny angel, who was wracked with shuddering sobs. Being fought over by _two_ of his master had confused and hurt MotorHead terribly.

Belldandy felt Urd's comforting hand on her back. Skuld was crying somewhere, but it hardly even registered in her mind. She should have felt guilty about that, but all she could think about was Keiichi. But he was still here, wasn't he?

Her Keiichi sat beside her, silently, seemingly as confused as she was, but obviously more concerned with how _she_ felt about the situation. Her arms were around him, and she held him close with powerful need.

"We'll fix this." Keiichi managed. "Somehow we always do, don't we?"

"Hai." Belldandy replied. She tried unsuccessfully to banish the images of Hild and Keiichi from her mind. She couldn't blame him, obviously Hild had put some kind of spell on the other Keiichi, ensnared him somehow. But the feelings of cold jealousy refused to go away.

The separation process must have drained her Keiichi, for he once again fell asleep in her arms. She couldn't bring herself to move. There were many reasons she had fallen for this man, she knew. In her entire career as a wish granter, no one had ever wished for her. She had been a means to an end for them. They were good people, those who had been chosen, but none had been like _him._ His aura had been special, and it hadn't just been his kindness and determination which had won her over. Within him, she had seen a kindred spirit.

Belldandy allowed herself to admit that she _wanted_ to be desired by him, and not just in the spiritual sense. Many had, over the years, wanted to be with Belldandy the Goddess. Keiichi, though awed by her, truly wanted to be with Belldandy the woman. Even the qualities in himself that he had repressed attracted her. And Hild had taken those qualities away. Keiichi breathed lightly in her arms. And even unconscious though he was, Belldandy could see the change in his aura. He was more pure, Hild had taken away all of his repressed qualities. And as shameful as some might consider them, Belldandy wanted them back.

MotorHead hovered on her shoulder and shook his head.

_I'm sorry. I didn't understand._ The tiny angel spoke through his connection with Holy Bell. _He was calling to me but... it wasn't him either._

Noise startled them all, and Mara trudged up from the steps, looking terrified and worn out. Before Belldandy could react, lightning built up from the sky and crackled onto the demon. Skuld bombs flew and Banpei missles took off, all impacting the hapless demon.

"How dare you come crawling back here!" Urd exclaimed angrily. "After what you did." It wasn't clear what Mara might have done, but her timing was exceptionally poor.

"You hurt..." Skuld stopped for a moment as if surprised at herself, apparently deciding she didn't care about pretenses anymore. "You hurt Keiichi!"

"I... tried to fight her." Mara said dejectedly, smoke wafting up from her battered body. "I'm sorry.. I'm sorry..." She repeated.

"Save it." Urd said, building up for another attack. Skuld reached for more of her bombs.

"Wait!" Belldandy yelled. "We need her!"

"Why?" Skuld and Urd said simultaneously.

"We're going to.. get all of Keiichi back." Belldandy felt a wash of determination come over her. "And we need a demon to do it."


	7. Chapter 7

Consciousness returned to him slowly, as if his mind struggled to awaken. A strange emptiness filled him, and in that single moment between sleep and wakefulness, he knew he had lost something that was very important to him.

Belldandy...

It was a name that should have awakened the love he knew he felt for her, and he waited for that feeling to wash over him, to push aside his unease. Nothing came, and worry flooded his awareness. Things were not as they should be. He felt different, changed somehow.

A pair of violet eyes blinked once, as they regarded him with a deceptively innocent curiosity. They were not the eyes he knew. There was coldness in them, and yet there was more, some strange drive, a singular purpose. The world came into focus with agonizing slowness. A face framed those eyes, impossibly beautiful yet fearfully dark. It should have frightened him, but it didn't.

Belldandy...

But it was not Belldandy. The face was wrong, twisted with an unnatural joy. Her voice spoke, and he shuddered. His memories seemed jumbled, as if they were in all the wrong places in his mind. Even so, Keiichi couldn't forget that face. Hild, the Daimakaicho, leered over him.

"Keiichi-san." The lustful undercurrent was apparent to him, even in his weakened state. It beckoned to him, tempting him with its seductiveness. The pieces fell into place in his mind. He remembered the dream, the strange device that hovered over him as Hild did her work. And finally, he remembered staring into his own eyes, another self.

"Hild." He deliberately left off the honorific. There was no gratitude in him, no need to show respect to the demon that had violated him.

"Good, you're conscious. We can begin."

"Begin what?" Keiichi wondered. "Are you going to attack me again?"

"My Keiichi," She began. "Why would I do such a thing?" She seemed friendly, caring almost. Hild always had an amazing capacity for shifting her personality to fit a situation.

"You're a demon. You tell me." He challenged defiantly. Yet even as the words left his mouth, he felt the wrongness of them. It was one thing to be unafraid of the Devil, especially around the presence of his Goddess. It was quite another to show such disrespect to her face, alone, here in... And that's when he realized, he had no idea where he was.

"The Pot of Heresy has unmade you, and remade you." Hild shrugged slightly, as if unconcerned over the trifling matter. "In simple terms, you've been split."

"You did this to Urd." Keiichi pointed out.

"No, Mara did that. Messed it up too." Hilds eyes were burning with intensity. "I once asked Belldandy if I could have you. Humans who can so easily contemplate our world, our dimension, are rare. Rarer still are those who are, shall we say, difficult to break."

"Put things back the way they were." Keiichi demanded. Yet there was something to Hild's words. His eyes traveled to her cleavage, taking in the sight of her. He didn't do the deed with his usual hesitation, he was brazen in his execution, feeling no embarrassment. His determination to win was there, he could feel that, but it was if all his moral restraints had simply vanished.

In some ways, this was wickedly exciting, for the possibilities it opened were beyond comprehension. But the fear overrode that, and he wondered just what _else_ Hild had taken from him. Was he supposed to be the _evil_ side of himself?

"I'm afraid that just isn't possible." Hild looked at her nails, as if preening them.

"You're telling me there is something the Daimakaicho can't do?" His taunts were barbs, and they shocked even him. He was prodding _the Devil._

"No," she smiled. "I'm telling you there's something I _won't_ do. Not, of course, unless a proper price is paid. That's the Demon way, you know. Make a wish, ask for anything!" Her arms swung around in a grand gesture. "You could even wish for me." Her eyes narrowed at that.

"Your price?" Keiichi was impatient. "For changing me back." He hastily appended. Best not to give the Daimakaicho the wrong idea.

"Well, as it so happens, it's not that high." The demon grinned happily and gestured to the room around them. He had been so caught up in the situation, so focused on the demon, he hadn't really stopped to contemplate his surroundings.

He was in what he had at first assumed to be a throne chamber, probably in Nifelheim someplace. Instead, it became increasingly apparent that this was simply a massive, oversized bedroom. Hild floated above him and gestured to the bed on the other end, a massive affair of wooden scrollwork and runes written in the divine language.

Belldandy...

His feelings had been stripped from him, and the name didn't bring the emotions that it should have. But he could _remember_ how he felt. That brought focus to him. He wanted to feel that way again.

"You brought me all the way down here to..." Keiichi steeled himself. "Sleep with me?"

"Oh, no. I could do that any time." Hild floated next to him, her face whispering in his ear. "You will give me something far more precious than a few passing moments of pleasure."

"No." Keiichi didn't fully understand, but he was determined to wait this thing out, to defeat the Daimakaicho. His purity had been taken from him, his feelings had been ripped from his heart, but his determination and his memory remained to him. Regardless of what part of Keiichi he was... he _was_ Keiichi Morisato.

"Oh, you are refusing me?" Hild's eyes narrowed, the tinge of threat dripping from her voice. This was the face that had reduced Skuld to tears merely for being displayed. "How unwise. I have love potions you know... I used one on you before bringing you down here. I don't think Belldandy liked that much." The demon made a kissing face at him.

"No." Keiichi repeated, trying to banish that scene from his memory. "If you could do whatever it is you want with a love potion, you'd have done it already."

The demon contemplated this for a moment, and smiled genially. "Smart. I'll give you credit for that, Belldandy chose from the best of the Earth realm." Her voice turned dark, seductive, playing into the fantasies rolling around in the back of his mind, and the smile vanished. "But you won't be able to resist me long, Keiichi-san."

Hild leaned toward him, her cheeks flushed, her eyes soft with desire. She had done this to him before, the Daimakaicho had a way of reducing others to obedient affection through a simple kiss. She could be cute one moment, soft and almost vulnerable, every gesture of her body language oozing love.

Keiichi closed his eyes, turning away from the seductive demon, trying to summon his love for his Goddess. A tiny spark of it remained to him, it grew in his heart, and he held onto it dearly. He would get back to her, somehow. Underneath, wicked thoughts raced in his mind, mingled with worries that the demon leader might actually be right. But for now, he simply avoided looking at the Daimakaicho. It was the only way.

"Have it your way, Keiichi." The demon decided to give up for the moment. Keiichi half-expected an outburst of anger, but the demon seemed to be only slightly annoyed. "You'll find all the comforts of home here. But you won't be leaving until we come to an accord."

Hild turned her back on him and sauntered out, pausing at the threshold of the chamber. "Come now, Keiichi, is it really so bad to be with me? Think of the possibilities."

She vanished, leaving him alone in the oversized room, wondering just what he could do to fight her.

* * *

Mara felt worn out, by this time she had been repeatedly electrocuted, blown up and had her mind reduced to a barely-functioning wreck by a succession of demons and goddesses. But when Hild had shattered her defenses, she finally felt freed of her need to serve. There as something to that, after all.

Urd was confused and angry. "I don't understand what my mother expects to achieve with this. This will never make me come with her to the Demon realm."

It had taken Mara several tries to convince the group of her fundamental innocence. In the end it had taken Velsper, freshly returned to his true form, to convince everyone that Mara had done her best.

"Maybe she wants to trade you for him, Urd." Mara pointed out. It seemed like an obvious move.

Urd sighed, as if she felt she were dealing with children. "Doesn't make sense. She could have just taken Keiichi whole, and done that. Why split him like this?"

"I don't feel any different." Keiichi said, MotorHead hovering on his shoulder. "Not really."

Belldandy smiled at him, but there was worry underneath. "Your aura has changed."

Mara rolled her eyes. "Keiichi is even more pure and goody-goody than he was before." She said. And it was true, whatever Hild had pulled from the man, it had definitely been from his more primal side.

"So Keiichi has been split into good and evil?" Skuld asked curiously. "And we have the good Keiichi."

"I don't think you could split Keiichi into evil." Urd pointed out. "More like Really Good and Not so nice. I can't imagine even the 'bad' Keiichi being all that terrible."

Mara chimed in again. "Much as I don't care for the goody-good act, is this really all that bad? I mean, you Goddesses like purity and such, right?"

Belldandy looked hurt at that suggestion. "Keiichi isn't whole. It's not right." Even as Keiichi looked pained at the suggestion, Belldandy held him close to her. "Keiichi-san..."

"I'm sorry, Bell." Keiichi said. "I didn't know what she was doing to me. I couldn't resist her."

"She's the Daimakaicho, moron." Urd said, as if to imply he was a moron for even trying. "You were powerless against that sort of energy."

"Still. I wish I could do more." Keiichi touched Belldandy's cheek in a gesture of affection. Wings sprouted from her back as Holy Bell came partly out, filling the room with white light. Incomplete or not, Belldandy's love for him was evident. Holy Bell's wings wrapped around them both.

Mara just rolled her eyes again and left the room, Urd following her out the door. This display of affection was becoming too much for her. She felt embarrassed on _their_ behalf, for the loving feelings that threatened to inundate the immediate vicinity.

"What's wrong." Urd whispered in the demon's ear. "Don't like PDA? Or do you wish it were you getting touched like that?"

"You'll regret that." Mara felt anger rising within her at the sudden realization that Urd was right. The real reason the Goddesses pissed her off so much is that she was, somehow, jealous of them. She hated watching how happy they were, how much fun they had, knowing that she had to serve the Daimakaicho and was forever barred from any sort of pleasure for herself. She hated her job, she hated being a stooge, a punching bag for the Demon realm.

"I doubt it." Urd laughed. "But this is twice now you've been on the wrong side. I'll buy your explanation about trying to fight back against Hild. But we can't afford to constantly question your loyalty. You said Hild released you..."

"Yeah? So what of it?"

"To avoid any future... misunderstandings," Urd began. "You need to _officially_ switch sides. It's the only way I'm going to trust you. Swear allegiance to The Almighty."

"What? You can't be serious." That was out of the question. She was a demon. Even released from service, even with her license revoked, she was not some loving, pretty little Goddess. The mere thought of it left a bad taste in her mouth. Or did it?

"I am. At this point, either you swear allegiance to Him, and join our side, or I'm kicking you out of here and leaving you on your own. Well, maybe we'll use you to open a portal first, but still, after that you're gone."

"I don't have anywhere to go. She won't let me back in Nifelheim now." Mara had always been a loner in the demon realm, but on Earth, it would be far worse for her. She had no home, no place to go, and with her license revoked, her access to higher forms of energy had been effectively blocked. She wasn't powerless, but it was still bad.

"You could stay here." Urd offered. "But the only way we won't constantly suspect you of betrayal is if you do this. Make up your mind. At least this way we won't blow you up every time something bad happens around here."

"I'm evil." The demon protested.

"You're not. Stupid, maybe. Self-centered, arrogant and cynical, definitely." Urd's face fell. "But, I know how that is. Look, I'm the wrong person to talk to about this anyway. I'm almost as bad as you."

"Heh." Mara smiled a bit. "That's truth."

Urd picked up the phone and dialed a few numbers before handing the handset to Mara. "Talk to him and get back to me."

"Who is it?" Mara asked, but part of her already knew...

"Mara." The voice said.

"Uh... hi." She managed. "Urd said I should talk to you."

"My daughter is, shall we say, a bit hasty." The voice said. "But she means well. Of course, I know all about what's going on down there."

"So why don't you fix it? Why don't you come down here and make it right for your daughter!" Mara accused, finding a strange sort of righteous anger inside herself. The Almighty had always taken such a hands-off approach, letting the Goddesses sort out his messes.

"Maintaining reality isn't a simple task." The Almighty began. "But that's not really why. Free will, Mara. You have it. Urd has it. So do Keiichi, Belldandy, and even Hild. I don't interfere with that much. And even the little I do interfere in is more than I'd like."

"In other words, it's not your problem." Mara spat. "So you're not going to get involved."

"It's everybody's problem." The voice chastised. "But never mind that. Let's discuss your situation."

"There's nothing to discuss. I'm a demon exiled to Earth." Mara said simply. "Urd says I should swear loyalty to you, and join Heaven's side. I say no, I'm a demon."

"As it so happens, you're both right. If it were easy to just switch sides, it'd happen a lot more often than it does. But I know you. Hild knows you. There's a reason she released you."

"I'm useless to her." Mara reflected.

"Not that. Give her credit for more than that." Kami said.

"She wants a demon to be in Heaven?" The demon offered. She realized that such a thing could be very useful to the Daimakaicho, indeed.

"Bingo."

Mara's face fell. As much as she thought to the contrary, even swore to the contrary, for a moment she had almost wanted to join their side, to be a nice, pretty little Goddess. The desire sickened her, but couldn't be denied. She couldn't even explain why. "Well, we can't give her what she wants."

"No, we can't." Kami agreed. "Anyway... I hate this next part, but it's part of the binding contract you and I will be making. Kneel, please."

"What?" Mara asked, flabbergasted.

"Kneel. I'm going to give you a provisional license."

"But you just said that we can't give her what she wants..." Mara protested, but some hope flared up in her chest. She couldn't believe she actually wanted this to be true.

"I did. She wants a demon in Heaven. Instead she'll get a newly-minted Goddess on Earth. I admit, I shouldn't find so much pleasure in it, but I do enjoy surprising her from time-to-time." The voice said. "Anyway, this is your chance, and you won't get another. Kneel and repeat the binding spell..."

_I'm a demon,_ she thought. But it rang hollow in her mind. She wasn't anything more or less than she wanted to be. Her mind flashed back to watching Belldandy and Keiichi, being so maddeningly happy. She thought back to her only real friend, Urd. Even as much as that bratty child, Skuld, annoyed her with her destructive inventions, she actually _liked_ the kid. Everything and everyone that meant anything to her was on the other side of the divide.

She didn't even realize she had kneeled, at first. The binding spell began to take effect, and she swore her allegiance. The energy of the Almighty overtook her for a moment, and she felt that power course through her, banishing the remaining demonic energy within her. Mara felt as if an impossible weight had been unchained from her. There was something else in that power, too, a subtle warning. The Almighty was trusting her, but he was not a fool.

_You have a provisional license, Second-class. _His voice echoed in her mind. _This is only good on Earth, for now. This is your home, now, anyway. When your time there is done, we will discuss what happens next. Be good, Mara. I think you will find it comes more naturally to you than you think._

The phone clicked off.

Mara saw her face in the mirror and struggled not to smile. She didn't want to be happy about this. But it was a battle she was losing, and the edges of her lips seemed to move against her will. Her markings were blue, but a purple tint remained to them, not unlike Urd's own. Her broken V had shifted into a connected one. Her demonic outfit was gone, too, replaced with the simple robes of a Goddess. She lost her battle against her own happiness, and she smiled broadly.

"Well that went better than I expected." Urd said.

"You were watching the _whole_ time?" Mara demanded, suddenly extremely embarrassed.

"It was really quite cute." Urd taunted. "You gave such a pretty smile, you know."

"You'll regret that." Mara said again, feeling her way around the different energy she possessed now.

"But what about your contract with us?" Urd chided, wagging her finger as if she were being a naughty child.

"That was with a resident of Nifelheim." Mara smiled. "Do you see any of them here?"

"Oh..." The smile fell from Urd's face. "But I'm sure you're supposed to behave now."

"You mean, like you?" Mara smiled. "I will behave just as good as you do, I promise." She charged up a blast of divine energy, the first time she had ever manipulated something like this.

"Well, at least you'll be more fun than Skuld." Urd laughed.

* * *

Keiichi's sense of time was skewed, somehow. He couldn't tell if days had passed, or only mere minutes. It was as it Hell didn't obey the normal rules of reality. He had spent an eternity alone with his own thoughts. They were wrong, off somehow, but he had finally started to make sense of them.

"Yes." A seductive, almost kindly voice said. Hild was back, and she looked as if she were filled with concern on his behalf. "It's different, but this is the real you."

"What do you mean?" Keiichi asked.

"What would you have done if you had met me, instead of Belldandy, that day? What if I had granted your wish?" Hild asked innocently, hovering beside him. "Would you have wished to be by my side forever?"

"No." But the statement was hollow. Honestly, he had no idea what he would have done.

"You were alone, and misfortune plagued you. You would have wished for any beautiful woman who came through that day." The Daimakaicho pointed out. "Maybe it could have been my daughter, Urd. Or even me. Imagine how different things would have been."

"That's not true. Belldandy is special. She was then, too." Keiichi said angrily.

"Was she? Heaven had been manipulating your mind, you know. They even gave you an angel, all to make you more pure, more like them. Belldandy made you into the man she loves. I've given you a chance to start over." Hild tilted her head, as if to say he should appreciate this favor.

"That's not true." He said, but the first cracks started to show in his certainty. Kami _had _admitted to tampering with him. Was it possible?

"It is very possible, Keiichi." Hild's face shifted slightly, and it seemed as if her cheery personality had simply sloughed off her. "I admit, I have my own motives for bringing you here. But I could have chosen anyone on Earth, and I chose you. Doesn't that mean something to you?"

"Hild I..." His cheeks flushed.

"Yes, Keiichi?" The demon smiled expectantly. She pursed her lips, waiting for his declaration.

"I know you love your daughter very much." He began. "I feel similarly for Belldandy."

Shock wormed its way onto Hild's features. "What if I told you that you would never see her again?"

"You would do that to me? Are you really that cruel?" Keiichi wondered. Of course she was the leader of the demons, but would she really do that to him?

"No, I'm not that cruel. It is simply that Belldandy will be happier with your... other self. The pure Keiichi, the more innocent version she and Heaven created." Hild conjured up an image into the air, and Keiichi watched it.

Holy Bell's wings surrounded him, and even he could see the aura of purity about his other-self. It was almost as perfect as Belldandy's aura was. His other-self touched Bell's cheek, and kissed her softly. They seemed as if they had been made for one another.

"Would you deny her that?" Hild asked softly.

Keiichi took a deep breath and struggled to keep the tears from forming in his eyes. Watching another, even another version of himself, holding her like that had nearly broken him.

"No. If she is happier then..." Keiichi looked down at the floor, crestfallen.

"I will never ask you to be anything other than what you are." Hild offered her hand in comfort, touching his shoulder. He didn't bother to shrug it off. _But she's a demon, _he thought, _I can't trust anything she says..._

Belldandy...

As the human drifted off to sleep, Hild smiled to herself. Keiichi had proven to be far stronger than she had ever suspected, but she was wearing him down, slowly. It wouldn't be long now. Despite herself, she found that she liked the man, he almost reminded her of Kami, albeit without all that self-righteous power. But that was a dangerous thought, full of implications she didn't want to consider.

For now, she allowed herself to enjoy the moment. Soon, she would be reunited with her daughter.


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Notes: **Thanks for all the reviews thus far, and a special thanks to HotelKatz for an idea which has been incorporated into this chapter. This is a difficult story to write, for a variety of reasons, and so I welcome new ideas from my readers. And I give credit where credit is due. I'm not even sure quite how long the story will wind up being, but I can safely say this is only the beginning.

**Chapter 8**

Hagal smiled joyously. The Daimakaicho hadn't explained herself fully, and she would never need to. It wasn't that she lacked curiosity about her task, but Hagal had come to respect her leader even more deeply since events had been set into motion.

"Commander, it's time." She smiled genially, her skirts flowing about her tiny body. Deception was her chosen virtue, and even the Guard had learned to respect her despite her small, child-like form.

"Good." The Commander of the Guard replied stoically. Whatever grudge he may have held against Hagal for defeating him so easily had fled with the prospect of battle. Eternity without combat was boring, for members of the Guard. This is what they truly lived for. His blade glowed with energy, and for the first time Hagal could remember, the demon actually smiled.

"We won't have long. You need to take the gates before they can respond." Hagal warned.

"For the Daimakaicho!" And the Commander was gone, flying through the portal. The Guard Legion followed him.

Hrungnir floated beside Hagal as the last of the Guard vanished into the portal. "They are almost as dumb as my machines." The puppeteer observed. Machines followed him, ready to serve their master.

"But they will be a useful distraction." Hagal answered. "Is everyone ready?"

"Of course." It was Thrymr, the absurdly strong demon. She clasped her hands together, stretching her arms and cracking her knuckles. "A new challenge!"

"I am ready." Halvalth said, her voice soft and emotionless. The demon of sound didn't seem to care one way or another about the coming conflict, but she would do her part, Hagal knew.

"Hild-sama will be pleased with us." Hagal was cheerful. She didn't enjoy fighting the same way the Guard did, but she wanted the Daimakaicho's approval, and this was her chance to get it.

* * *

Time crept along, and Keiichi felt as if it were somehow out of sync with his body. He was worn out, stretched thin, like taffy pulled one too many times. But slowly energy returned to him, and he spent less of his time in that semi-conscious haze. The sounds of Nifelheim were all around him, a strange, unnatural rhythm that his mind struggled to understand.

His first time here had been caught up in the throes of battle, in the strange unreality of the Judgement Gate, and so he had not paid attention to the details of the place. It certainly didn't fit the description of the Christian Hell, or the mythological references in Western history. In fact, he couldn't find a single parallel in his admittedly thin knowledge of ancient religion. It was as if many had known of Nifelheim's existence, but no one had actually seen it for themselves.

Light reflected off the walls, and Keiichi wondered why there seemed to be more of them than was possible. The room seemed completely square, yet he could clearly make out five walls. His mind struggled to make sense of it all. Above all, he was a logical person, mechanically minded. Things had to add up, they had to make sense, and this place tested the limits of what his mind could wrap itself around. Sigils glowed in the floor of the expansive bedroom, bright orange symbols written in the divine language flowing around in circles.

That, at least, was familiar. Hild was returning. Where she went, or what she did when she wasn't with him, Keiichi couldn't say. But at least she relieved his perpetual, seemingly timeless, boredom.

"Hild." Keiichi's voice betrayed neither pleasure nor terror at the prospect of her visit.

"You're growing stronger." Hild's robes flowed about her form, as if they were as much a part of her as her skin.

"I guess." Keiichi shrugged.

"You are." A friendly smile crossed Hild's features, and she sauntered over to him, actually _sitting_ next to him on the bed, the only piece of furniture in the room. Normally the demon preferred to hover, as if sitting on some imaginary chair.

"Any chance you'll let me out of here?" It wasn't as if Keiichi was hopeful at the prospect, but it had become something of an obligatory question each time the Daimakaicho came to see him. And, of course, she would smile and explain how the time wasn't right, and how demons had prices for everything. It was a dance they had done many times before.

The Daimakaicho nodded. "Actually, today, I thought we could go to Earth for awhile."

Belldandy...

It was the immediate thought that came to him. But if it sounded too good to be true with Hild, it probably was.

The demon continued. "You need some fresh air. You need to clear your head."

"Can we see Belldandy and..."

"Of course not." Hild smiled again. "We still have to come to our arrangements. But I'd like to spend some time alone with you. Call it a date. Just the two of us." Her arm was around him, and Keiichi knew he was in trouble.

"So where are we going then?" At least he'd be getting out of this room for awhile.

"Opposite side of the world. We can't be having any Goddesses dropping in, of course. You know, your friend Velsper has a liking for Germany so I thought we'd go there." The Daimakaicho cocked her head slightly. "And didn't you take German lessons at Nekomi?"

"I was never very good at it." Keiichi grumbled. "So you're going to take me to a country where _everyone_ will be taller than I am. Thanks." Sarcasm dripped from his voice.

"You'll find being with the Daimakaicho has its privileges." Keiichi struggled not to look at the demon's chest, her bosom threatening to pop out of its enclosure at any moment.

Her fingers snapped, and the portal opened again, drawing them both through. Reality bent and twisted in his mind, and suddenly he was beneath open sky again, the sun shining down on him, in a country he had never set foot in before.

Hild's arm was entwined with his, and she led him down the sidewalk, covered in quaint buildings and bizarre architecture. Her provocative outfit drew the admiring stares of passers-by, and more than a few envious looks in his direction.

"Where are we, exactly?" He wondered.

"Cologne. Interesting place, I once granted a wish to a young French officer not far from here. He wanted to conquer a few countries." Hild explained conversationally as they walked.

"What happened to him?" Keiichi was, admittedly, a little fuzzy on European history. It wasn't a subject he had ever concerned himself with.

"He conquered for awhile, like I promised him." She laughed. "But he wanted more, wanted to conquer the rest of the world. His payment wasn't high enough for that."

"Hild..."

"Yes, Keiichi?" She stopped, turning her eyes to him. Her expression was happy, even somewhat concerned. It almost reminded him of Belldandy, which it was undoubtedly designed to do.

"Why are you doing this? You never wanted me."

She regarded him curiously and her expression shifted. For a moment, Keiichi saw the true personality, the real Hild, buried under deep layers of masks. "You're wrong. I did want you. Of all the mortals walking on this world, you are the most interesting."

Keiichi thought about this for awhile, heedless of the passers-by. Hild's eyes narrowed, and she reached within her swirling robes.

"Cigarette?" She offered.

"I don't smoke." Still, it was tempting. It had been years since he last smoked, ever since he met Belldandy. In fact, that had been one of the first changes he made when he met the Goddess. It just didn't seem right to have such a filthy habit around a being as pure as she was.

"But you did, once. Didn't you?" Hild pulled out a cigarette and put it in her mouth. Her finger glowed red-hot for a moment, flame summoned out of nothingness, and lit it. She took a long, delicious pull, a cloud of smoke wafting around her. He made the mistake of looking into her eyes, and he saw the orange flow of the cigarette reflected in them.

"Yeah, I did." He admitted.

"Do you see what I mean? You were purified, Keiichi. For the sake of your wish. You wished to have a Goddess like her by your side forever. Do you think someone like, say... me, could ever make a wish like that?" Tobacco smoke surrounded her, and he tasted the familiar desire.

"No. They only give wishes to the pure of heart." Keiichi challenged.

The cigarette nearly fell out of Hild's mouth, as she laughed. "Heh. It's all relative, Keiichi." She pointed to a tall German man walking down the street in an expensive-looking business suit. "That man over there cheated on his wife. But he got a wish, like you did. Now he's running a large corporation in this part of the world."

"I don't get it."

"Heaven picks the 'most pure' of mankind to grant wishes to, true. But you might as well say 'least bad' of mankind. All men are flawed. Goddesses are too, they just don't admit it." Hild offered the cigarettes to him again. "Last chance." The familiar smell had triggered an urge he thought he had suppressed. He _did _want a cigarette.

"Fine." He said, selecting a stick and placing it in his mouth. "Light?"

Hild smiled and obliged him, her finger tip touching the end of the cigarette. Her hand was dangerously close to his face, and he could feel the warmth of her. She seemed to know this, and for a moment he thought she would try to touch him. But she lit the cigarette and withdrew her hand. The comforting familiarity of the tobacco calmed his nerves. Yet he was still glad Belldandy couldn't see him like this. He felt a stab of guilt at that. This was definitely a guilty pleasure. It had been even before he met her.

Hild was either reading his mind, or was just incredibly perceptive. "Why feel guilt over your pleasures?"

"Sometimes you want to be more than you are." He answered.

"I don't." The demon replied.

"You're a liar."

A familiar BMW motorcycle passed by him, hauntingly similar to his own bike, and he realized he really _was_ in Germany. If Goddesses and Demons could simply transport themselves to any part of the world, why had he stayed in Nekomi all the time? Why had he not gone and seen the world with Belldandy? Another cloud of tobacco smoke enveloped him, and he felt strangely peaceful.

"So, how about a beer, Keiichi?" Hild's arm was in his again, and they rounded a corner, conveniently next to a Kolsch brewery. "Alcohol is one of my favorite Earthly delights. I understand Urd loves it so much."

He allowed himself to be led, for the moment, feeling powerless to stop her. Who knew what the Daimakaicho might do if he resisted. There had to be a way out of this situation without giving her whatever it is she wanted. They sat down outside the brewery and a server came up to them.

He was shocked to discover he could understand her completely, much more than his pitiful amount of German should have allowed. Hild winked at him, obviously she had something to do with that. He ordered beers for them both, and the server vanished and reappeared with the tall beer glasses.

"I just realized, I have no money. Don't even have any yen on me, much less any euros." Keiichi smiled nervously. He had been transported the other side of the world by a demon who wanted to seduce him, and all he could think about was how there was no way he could pay for a beer.

"I think you're mistaken." The demon ran a finger down her cleavage, reaching inside and producing a fistful of the multi-colored currency. "Have you noticed a change in yourself?"

"Huh?"

The demon peeled back the edge of her dress, exposing more of her breast, and Keiichi watched, enraptured by the sight.

"You didn't look away, or run away in fear. Don't you usually do that any time Belldandy accidentally shows you a little... something extra? Or even my daughter, doing it on purpose." Hild winked at him. Keiichi thought about that for a moment. Things had been strange since passing through the Judgment Gate. His desires had been unsealed, but yet there was something to what the demon was saying. Before he ever met Belldandy, he had been shy, unsure of himself, and completely hopeless around women. Now he was sipping beers with the most attractive woman anywhere he could see, and she was practically flashing him. It didn't even faze him.

"You've been through a lot of adventures." Hild placed her head in her hands and a look of lust crossed her features. "You even came to Hell to help me, which was sweet by the way, even if you were doing it for Belldandy. You've got self-confidence now, strength that you didn't have back then. But Belldandy prefers the shy Keiichi, the one who looks away in shame at a body like this."

"No. No, I've heard enough Hild. Belldandy isn't like that. If I'm missing a part of me, it's because you took it away." He was angry now, and he puffed the cigarette down to the nub. He wasn't on some date, he was being actively seduced by a demon. "That's what you do, you lie, you try to seduce me, and you want to use me for some purpose."

"True." Hild admitted. "I lie, I want to seduce you, and I have a reason for wanting to." She put out her cigarette and leaned over the table, close enough that he could feel her breath on his skin. The Daimakaicho was hypnotizing, her entire presence was a temptation, and she knew it. "What's wrong with that? You don't think Belldandy has reasons for wanting... the other you? She wants to seduce you, too, though she won't admit it."

"She doesn't lie." Keiichi managed. Beer seemed to flow endlessly here, the server coming by and replacing his empty glass with another, without even a word.

"But she doesn't tell you things she doesn't want you to know." Hild shrugged. "Not much difference, Keiichi."

"She also doesn't use some artifact to split me in two!" He felt like they were just rehashing the same subject, over and over again.

The demon offered him another cigarette, as if to calm him, and he grudgingly accepted. She leaned in close, her lips close to his own, lighting the stick with her breath. She whispered sensuously.

"I love you, Keiichi." It was barely audible. If he had heard words like that from a woman like her before meeting Belldandy... Of course she had to be lying, that was Hild's way. She had said words like that to others, casting doubt in their minds. The Daimakaicho was dangerous precisely because of her ability to manipulate feelings. He was a means to an end, nothing more.

She seemed to read his thoughts again. "Why can't you be both? I will tell you my price for letting you go." She leaned back in her chair, and took a long drag from her own cigarette. "I want you to give me a child."

Keiichi nearly choked on his beer. "What?!"

"That's right. You have no idea how lonely it can be in Hell. Your immortal counterpart will learn how boring eternity can be sometimes. I want a family." The demon finished her beer, placing the coaster on top of it. That, apparently, was the signal for the server to stop bringing them to her. "But it isn't as easy as just sex, Keiichi. Your spirit has to want the child, too. It's more spiritual than physical, for demons and gods."

"So that's why you don't just cast a spell on me." He scratched his chin in thought.

"It's all I ask for. After that, you can stay, or go back to Belldandy. Whatever you wish for. I'd ask you to consider staying with me, but it would be your choice."

He didn't even know what to say to that, and so he turned away in silence. Belldandy would forgive him if he did this thing, he knew. But that didn't make it okay, did it? And despite everything Hild had said, there had to be a deeper reason for this. He highly doubted the demon had just woken up one day with baby fever. No, there was a calculation in this somewhere, there had to be.

Hild paid for the beers, which Keiichi found odd in itself, and gestured for them to walk again. The sun was starting to set, and she led them to a park at the edge of the Rhine river. It must have been a local couples hangout, for there were many couples sitting on benches, watching the orange sparkles reflecting off the water.

"You're special, Keiichi." She said, not even really looking at him. "But not because you're so pure and innocent."

"I'm not listening." He turned away, trying to tune her out.

"You're clever and adaptable. You've seen enough to drive most mortals insane, and yet you're here, now, with me. Most mortals would be frightened out of their skin around me, after seeing what you've seen. Even a demon can appreciate that." Keiichi tried not to look at her, but it was difficult. There was emotion in her voice, she knew what she was doing. Her arm slid lower, and her hand brushed his, deliberately, he was certain.

"You want to use me or the child to trade for Urd, right?" Keiichi asked.

"Not exactly." Hild replied, sitting down on a bench and gesturing next to her. Keiichi remained standing.

"Why do you want her back so badly? What happened?"

"It's a long story." Hild's mask fell away again, and he suspected he was talking to the _real_ Hild, supposing such a being actually existed underneath all of that. But he had seen that wistfulness once before, right before entering the Judgment gate. Underneath the haughty, flirty demon leader, there was a terribly wounded creature. But like so many aspects of her personality, it had been compartmentalized, filed away in some mental pigeonhole and hidden from prying eyes.

She indulged him anyway. "The Almighty and I went through that Judgment gate too. After Urd had been conceived. We were separated, and I raised Urd alone until he decided to take her away, too."

"You didn't love him?"

Anger seethed within the demon, suddenly, and Keiichi could almost see the emotions roiling within. "I loved him. And he loved me. I just had other motives, too. We all do. And it was his own gate, too. Self-righteous God deciding he wants to test our own love with some contrived gate in the name of realm purity. Only He does things like that, you know. I hate Him for that." She paused and looked at him, a flustered expression on her face. So he had gotten to her after all. It was a rare being, mortal or divine, that got the better of Hild. "I will take you back to Nifelheim now."

"No." Keiichi protested, sitting next to her, but keeping his distance. For a moment, he actually felt bad for the demon. He could hear the pain in her voice when she talked about the Almighty and her daughter. Maybe a part of her really did just want a family, to be loved, no different than any human did. "At least stay until the sun has set. I won't get to see that down there."

Hild turned to face him, a confused expression on her face. "So tell me. Would you have wished for me if I came through your mirror that day?"

"I don't know." He admitted. The sun dipped below the horizon, the twin peaks of an ancient cathedral cutting the sky in two.

* * *

"It's hopeless." Mara said simply. "You need three demons to open a portal to Nifelheim. We have two. And what's worse, it looks like the portal is stronger than it was before."

They had been trying all day, and even the energy summoned by Mara and Velsper had proven to be useless against the portal outside the temple. They all knew where it was, the entrance to Nifelheim, but it was impossible to budge against Hild's will without at least _three_ demons. They only had two, if those two even counted anymore after the release.

"I could do it." Urd stated flatly. And she knew she could, half of her remained demonic, and she could sense that energy just below the surface of her thoughts. It was the same energy that flowed through her mother's veins. That part of her urged her to try it, to let loose her _true_ self. But she couldn't let that happen. Down in Nifelheim she had almost lost herself, had come so close to allowing her own sister to die. No, she couldn't trust herself with that power. Unlike her mother, she had no control over it, no mastery of that energy. It had flowed violently into her thoughts, driving her mad. Urd might have greater power as a demon, but she had even less control than she did as a Goddess. Still, that part of her remained. That tinge of madness, that contrast between light and dark was who she was.

"No, Neesan." Belldandy protested. "You can't. If you succumb, you'll just be giving her what she wants."

And Urd knew she was right. It didn't make it any easier to accept. "We may have to bargain for him."

"You know what she wants, Urd." Mara replied.

"And we can't let you do it." Velsper agreed. "It would hurt Belldandy."

Urd cast a sideways glare at the former cat. "Thanks for caring about me."

"You're welcome." The demon answered, smiling. Urd couldn't tell if he was being serious, or if he was just that stupid. The Goddess didn't have a high opinion of Velsper's intelligence, anyone who thought manipulating the entire universe to retain forbidden doublet memories obviously possessed questionable judgment.

"We could always pretend to bargain with her." Mara began. "Then seal her. Wouldn't that feel good."

Urd frowned. "Who here is strong enough to do that? All of us together couldn't do that. And besides, you want to leave that idiot Hagal in charge of Nifelheim? She'd keep Keiichi down there forever just because she thought it was funny. Come on Mara, don't be stupid."

"What about the Almighty, then?" Skuld asked. "Maybe we can get Father to help."

Even Belldandy looked skeptical on that count, however. Generally, the Almighty let things play out as they would, only intervening in the most critical areas. But he had done a special favor for Keiichi, there was a small chance.

"It'd have to be from you, Bell." And that was truth, Urd knew. Of his three daughters, Belldandy was the kindest and most responsible. In other words, she was the least likely to call up Father whining about some trouble she got herself into. He would be forced to take her seriously. Urd knew neither she nor Skuld could claim that.

* * *

Keiichi sat on the stairs, watching the action with a distracted look on his face, as if he didn't know what he should be doing. He was neither God, nor mortal, not anymore. Questions rolled around in his mind, for he loved Belldandy, and hated seeing her suffer like this. But there was literally nothing he could do to help.

As the group walked back the temple, he trudged along, lost in thought. MotorHead was no help, either, the angel seemed just as lost as he was. With nothing else to do, he followed Belldandy into the temple and waited to hear what the Almighty would say. He only caught her half of the conversation, but it was enough.

"Father yes... please, we can't get through the portal and... she's done what?! So you can't... what about Lind and the Valkyries? ...Oh. I'm sorry."

All eyes were on Belldandy as she hung up the phone. "Hild has attacked Heaven's gates. That's why the portals are so hard to break open right now. Heaven's resources are devoted to countering her attacks."

Urd was shaking her head, and Skuld had stomped the floor in frustration.

"It's my fault for agreeing to help her get her throne back." Belldandy's face was downcast.

"Don't give me that, sis." Anger seeped into Urd's voice. "Hagal was worse, we did what we had to do."

"Yeah, it's not your fault." Skuld agreed. "We all helped, anyway. It's her fault. Maybe I should build another proton bomb and use it on her."

"Skuld, that's not very nice." Belldandy chastised.

"She violated Keiichi and attacked Heaven, big sis. We don't have to be nice to her, and I won't! And neither should you! Look at how bad she made you feel."

"Hate to say it, but the brat has a point." Urd agreed. "We're going to have to fight her. Somehow. And when Hild was kissing the... other Keiichi you didn't seem very peaceful about it then, so..."

Keiichi was horrified. Belldandy's hidden jealousy was a terrifying force, and Urd had just reminded Bell of something that had nearly triggered a typhoon. _Leave it to Urd to say something stupid at a time like this_, he thought. A blank expression crossed his Goddess's features for a moment and her aura darkened visibly.

He wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly, and the terrible aura began to fade away. Strength had returned to him, finally. In the days since his transformation, he had been weak, tired and confused, like his body wasn't his own. But he had improved since then, feeling himself and his jumbled memories again. It was as if someone had taken all the pieces of his mind and strewn them about, letting the chips fall where they may.

Of course, that was probably exactly what Hild had done to him.

_She can't take our soul. _MotorHead offered.

"I suppose not." He said aloud.

"What?" Belldandy asked.

"Nothing. Just talking to myself." Keiichi replied. "I have to get ready for work. Life doesn't stop just because a demon decides to screw around with my head."

"Hai. I'll go with you." His Goddess smiled at him, the rage forgotten again. Sometimes it was frightening how quickly Belldandy's moods could shift. But beneath it all, she was the most beautiful, kind being he had ever known. She wasn't perfect, despite his initial opinion of her, but if anything that made her all the more real to him.

Working sounded terribly mundane next to recent events, but there was something to that too. He needed time to think and figure things out. And at least MotorHead would finally get to work on bikes, something the tiny angel had been rather enthusiastic about for some time.

_It'll get your mind off things, too. _MotorHead offered.

_Not sure I want my mind off this. It's hitting Bell harder than it's hitting me. _He answered in his mind, careful not to vocalize it.

"You people are so stupid sometimes." Mara said acidly, interrupting his thoughts. Obviously her swearing allegiance to the Almighty had done nothing for her prickly personality. "I mean really, it's obvious to anyone with a working brain."

Urd and Keiichi faced the former demon and spoke in unison. "What?"

"If Hild is stirring up trouble with Heaven, well there must be dozens of demons roaming the Earth." Mara's arms flew wide. "So we go capture some of them and make them open the portal for us."

"That's actually not a bad idea." Urd looked at the former demon with new-found respect, and floated next to her. "We'd need bait to draw them out. You know, someone who looks really weak, but has enough purity to attract attention and make a tempting target."

All eyes fell on Keiichi. Belldandy's gaze was concerned but everyone else had a decidedly predatory expression on their faces.

"Oh no, not after all this..." Keiichi groaned.

* * *

Lind lived for combat. It wasn't that she enjoyed fighting, it was simply that it was her purpose, her reason for being. There was fulfillment in it, a strange sort of satisfaction at being useful, even if she despised the actual act. Her polearm shifted about, the energy contained within parrying the demon's attack. Her angels were about her, protecting her back from a second demon who had materialized from the void between realms.

All around her, in the timeless expanse at the gates of Heaven, the battle raged. There hadn't been an assault like this in eons, since long before her training days. Things had changed in the demon realm, she knew. Hild was reinvigorated somehow, testing the balance of power between Heaven and Hell again.

But none of that mattered. All that mattered was the fight, the conflict. Fire cascaded around her as the demon cast a spell that threatened to break her defenses. Cool Mint replied, a barrier of cold annihilating the inferno, restoring the thermodynamic balance.

For a moment, the demon was caught off guard. He had extended his attack too far, used up too much of his energy, and his own barrier flickered. Lind brought the mighty polearm down, shattering the barrier into shards of shimmering energy. The demon fell to one knee, exhausted. A vicious attack by the demon's partner was barely parried in time, and even then, only with Spear Mint's help. The one-winged angel had a determined look upon her face as she held back the attacker with her own barrier. She would hold. Lind reached out, her power shifting into a sealing spell, and the weakened demon was bound to the rock upon which he had fallen, locked away. Her other attacker, suddenly assessing the diminished odds, retreated back through the gate which he had forced.

"Lind. Our counterattack has pushed them back beyond the main gate. But we can't hold them there." It was Peorth, and the very fact that she was involved in this conflict spoke to the seriousness of it. Peorth didn't hold a Valkyrie license, she was a wish-granter, so she had probably been tapped as part of a reserve force.

"How many did we lose." Lind asked simply. All around her the remaining demons were retreating. Heaven had been saved, though that outcome had hardly been in doubt. Overrunning Heaven was impossible for them. But in the process, the demons had trashed the gate system pretty thoroughly, which seemed to have been their true goal.

"Fifteen of ours have been sealed. We've sealed twenty-one of theirs." Peorth reported. Well that was good news, at least. Usually in these sorts of conflicts, trades would be made, and having more imprisoned on their side would come in handy when the negotiations were made. But that wasn't her job, she was here to scour Heaven's gates of demons.

"We need to push them out of the gate network." Lind said simply.

"How? Hagal is leading the attack personally. Most of our losses were suffered fighting her and her lieutenants." Peorth sounded frazzled, but then that was to be expected. She wasn't a combat specialist, this wasn't her arena.

"Leave it to me." Lind answered, lifting her polearm and rallying the Valkyries nearby. Everyone in Heaven knew what Hild had done to Keiichi, and whatever else she wanted to do, she wanted to help her friend. Cool Mint and Spear Mint nodded in agreement. The main gate would have to be retaken.


End file.
